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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29357514">New Earth: The Flash</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkShado/pseuds/DarkShado'>DarkShado</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>New Earth [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Flash (TV 2014)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Post-Crisis on Infinite Earths Crossover Event (CW DC TV Universe)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 03:55:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>44,188</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29357514</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkShado/pseuds/DarkShado</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>My name is Barry Allen. After watching the multiverse collapse, I awoke on this new world to find many things have changed and I have been given a second chance to save those I couldn't before and atone for my past mistakes. I am the paragon of Love, but even more importantly, I am the Flash. Part two of new earth series</p>
<p>*Adopted from Lauriverfanboy1*</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Allegra Garcia &amp; Iris West, Barry Allen &amp; Cisco Ramon &amp; Caitlin Snow, Barry Allen/Iris West, Cecile Horton/Joe West, Cisco Ramon/Caitlin Snow, Henry Allen &amp; Barry Allen &amp; Jesse ''Quick'' Wells-Allen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>New Earth [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2151108</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lauriverfanboy1/gifts">Lauriverfanboy1</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I'll be posting the first 46 Chapters from the story before posting my own.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The last thing Barry remembered before blacking out was kneeling next to Sara over Oliver's body at the dawn of time watching a new universe be born before he blacked out.</p>
<p>When he came to, Barry realized that he was lying on some kind of gurney with Poker face playing in the background.</p>
<p>"What the hell?" Barry asked as he opened his eyes and found himself in the medbay of Star Labs.</p>
<p>"How did I get here?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"I can answer your questions Barry." Mar Novu said as he appeared in the medbay.</p>
<p>"I thought you were dead?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"The multiverse died and then was reborn. So was I. Do not worry, I am only here to answer your questions on the situation." Novu explained.</p>
<p>"How did I get back to Star Labs?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"When you rebooted the universe, you were each transported the location of your counterparts in this universe and took their place. This world is much different than the old one." Novu said.</p>
<p>"Not surprising, new earth means new outcomes. What do I need to know?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"The most significant change would be that it is the year 2012 now." Novu said.</p>
<p>"This earth exists 8 years earlier than the old earth did." Barry realized.</p>
<p>"Correct. Also, the particle accelerator went off earlier in this new timeline, hence why you are currently in Star Labs." Novu said.</p>
<p>"I just woke up from my coma, didn't I?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"You did. Your speed is at the level it was before the universe was reborn." Novu said.</p>
<p>"Does anyone else remember what happened?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"Only your fellow paragons remember at this time. Yourself, Sara Lance, Kate Kane, Kara Zor-El, J'onn J'onzz, Ryan Choi, Lex Luthor and Oliver Queen." Novu said.</p>
<p>"Wait, what do you mean Oliver? I thought he was dead and you said he wasn't a paragon?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"Because as far as I knew, he wasn't. Oliver Queen lives again as the paragon of life. The reason he became the spectre was so that he could gain the powers needed to fulfill his duty as a paragon, but in doing so, he also changed his fate and gave himself and everyone else fresh starts on this new earth." Novu said.</p>
<p>"So he's still alive." Barry said eagerly, since he was very happy to hear that.</p>
<p>"Yes, he is alive and will be for a long time. Now, I leave you, I am going to give you this first." Novu said as he waved his hand and suddenly Barry's brain felt like it was on fire.</p>
<p>"What did you do to me?" Barry demanded as the pain began to subside.</p>
<p>"I gave you your counterpart's memories to allow you to blend in on this new world without arousing suspicion." Novu explained and Barry nodded.</p>
<p>"Got it." Barry said as Novu disappeared as Cisco and Caitlin came surging into the medbay and began basically going through a rerun of what happened the first time he came out of his coma.</p>
<p>After he was discharged from Star Labs, since that went more or less the same as it had before, though this time, Barry had to keep himself from putting his hand through Thawne's chest when he saw him, old anger surfacing, Barry decided that while he figured the rest of the paragons could probably adapt to this on their own, since they've all dealt with crazy situations before, there was one that would probably be freaking out right now.</p>
<p>That was why he was running to Ivy Town where he found Ryan Choi in his office, freaking out like he expected.</p>
<p>"Doctor Choi." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Barry, what is going on? Why is it 2012 again?" Ryan asked.</p>
<p>"This is the new universe we helped Oliver create. Unfortunately, we didn't exactly get to choose how we'd enter it. We've been brought back to the beginning of Oliver's crusade, which I guess makes sense since he's the one who created this new world. And only the paragons know what happened." Barry said.</p>
<p>"This is crazy." Ryan said and Barry chuckled.</p>
<p>"After everything you've seen in the short time you've known me, you still think this is crazy?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"Yes." Ryan said simply.</p>
<p>"Look, since I doubt that we'll need you to be the Paragon of Humanity again any time soon, unless someone else opens up the antimatter universe, I suggest you just try to adjust to this new reality." Barry said</p>
<p>"I don't know if I can." Ryan said and Barry chuckled.</p>
<p>"I've lost track of how many times I've thought that to myself before I did something impossible while I trained and then I did it. I know it will be hard at first Ryan, but if you can handle everything we went through during the crisis, I know you can handle this too." Barry said.</p>
<p>"I hope so Barry, but at the same time, I'm freaking out." Ryan said.</p>
<p>"Remember, if you need help adjusting, just give me a call." Barry promised him.</p>
<p>"Thanks Barry." Ryan said.</p>
<p>"See you around." Barry said with a grin as he sped out of the room and back towards Central City.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As Barry ran back towards Central City from Ivy town, he began to think about his new memories, specifically ones that indicated that he was not an only child in this reality. He now had a younger sister named Jesse. Though in the old multiverse he'd known her as Jesse Wells. That would likely take some getting used to, though he supposed it did make sense since both of them were speedsters.</p>
<p>However, he was removed from his thoughts when he heard a familiar voice in his mind.</p>
<p>" Barry, meet me at Star Labs. We have much to discuss. " J'onn's voice said in his mind and Barry grinned as he ran towards Star Labs to find the martian in his human form waiting for him.</p>
<p>"Barry, it's good to see you again, but where were you?" J'onn asked as they shook hands.</p>
<p>"Talking to Ryan Choi. While the rest of us paragons are used to this sort of craziness, he's not. I thought he could use some calming down." Barry explained and J'onn nodded.</p>
<p>"Good thinking." J'onn said.</p>
<p>"So, what brings you to Central City?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"I've been going from city to city using my psychic abilities to restore the memories of our compatriots as best I can. I'm here to ask you which members of your team you want me to restore the memories of." J'onn asked.</p>
<p>"Cisco, Caitlin, Iris, Ralph, Joe and Cecille." Barry said, since even if Ralph and Cecille didn't have their powers yet, he needed as many people that he could trust to help him deal with Thawne as possible. Especially people with both Ralph's PI skills and Cecille's legal expertise.</p>
<p>"Let's get to work." J'onn said.</p>
<p>"First, can you do a psychic scan of the building to make sure Thawne is not here?" Barry asked and J'onn nodded as he did exactly that.</p>
<p>"Only people I'm detecting in there are Cisco and Caitlin." J'onn confirmed and Barry smiled.</p>
<p>"Then let's go." Barry said, though from the look on J'onn's face, he could tell there was something the Martian wasn't telling him.</p>
<p>"They're in Cisco's workshop." J'onn said and Barry nodded as they headed inside the building towards Cisco's workshop.</p>
<p>When they arrived at Cisco's workshop, Cisco and Caitlin were both there, but Barry could tell that there was definitely something different about the dynamic between them then before. Not to mention, Caitlin looked kind of guilty about something.</p>
<p>"Barry, what brings you back so soon and who is your friend?" Caitlin asked and J'onn chuckled.</p>
<p>"You'll remember in a minute." J'onn said as he walked up to her and then restored her memories.</p>
<p>"Wait, what are you doing to her?" Cisco demanded as J'onn pulled away from Caitlin and turned to him.</p>
<p>"The same thing I'm about to do to you." J'onn said and before Cisco could do anything, J'onn then proceeded to restore his memories.</p>
<p>"J'onn." Cisco said.</p>
<p>"What the hell just happened?" Caitlin asked.</p>
<p>"I restored your memories of the old reality." J'onn said.</p>
<p>"Really? So you breached here from your earth?" Cisco asked.</p>
<p>"Not exactly. When we recreated the universe, it combined your earth with my earth and Black Lightning's earth and only the paragons know the difference. I've been going from city to city restoring the memories of our compatriots." J'onn explained.</p>
<p>"Wow. well, at least now we don't need to breach whenever we need Supergirl's help." Cisco said.</p>
<p>"And vice versa. Anyways, Barry, I think we should go restore the memories of your other teammates." J'onn said and Barry nodded.</p>
<p>"I'll catch up with you guys later, but in the meantime, try not to let Thawne know you're onto him. We're going to need a team effort to stop him. Which reminds me, you should both see if you still have your powers." Barry said and Cisco and Caitlin nodded as they watched J'onn and Barry walk out of the workshop.</p>
<p>"So, am I the only one who thinks this is awkward?" Cisco asked.</p>
<p>"Considering what we were doing before J'onn restored our memories, yeah." Caitlin said as she blushed slightly at the thought.</p>
<p>"So, where do we go from here?" Cisco asked.</p>
<p>"Well, we could go back to how things were before the Crisis." Caitlin said.</p>
<p>"But what if I don't want to." Cisco asked, surprising Caitlin since she'd honestly been thinking along the same lines. She didn't want to do that either.</p>
<p>"Okay then, maybe before we continue what our doppelgangers were doing, we should have a talk we probably should've had years ago." Caitlin said and Cisco nodded.</p>
<p>"So, we have feelings for each other." Caitlin said.</p>
<p>"Yeah. Cait, I've had a crush on you since the day we first met at Star Labs when I started working here. But you were with Ronnie. Then you were with Hunter. Then Julian, then Gypsy and Frost happened. It seemed like an impossible dream, so I gave up on it." Cisco said.</p>
<p>"I wish you hadn't. You're the only person who I've ever felt like understood me. You stood by my side, you never gave up on me when Frost had control and was a villain. You're the one person other than Barry that I know I can trust to have my back, no matter what. I just wish I'd seen what was right in front of me sooner." Caitlin said and Cisco smiled.</p>
<p>"Better late than never right. And we know that we can make this work." Cisco said and Caitlin smiled.</p>
<p>"I agree. So, what do we do now?" Caitlin asked.</p>
<p>"I've got some ideas." Cisco said as he walked up to her and Caitlin smiled as she leaned down to kiss him, right as Frost decided to chip in.</p>
<p>Don't hog him all to yourself Caity. Frost said in her mind, causing Caitlin to jump back.</p>
<p>"What, is everything okay?" Cisco asked.</p>
<p>"Yeah, Frost just decided to reveal she still exists. Apparently she approves of this. Which is weird because I thought she didn't like you." Caitlin said.</p>
<p>That was just me being angry that by the time I was able to get you to give me control, he was with someone else. Frost said in her mind.</p>
<p>"Okay, good to know." Caitlin said.</p>
<p>"So, are we good?" Cisco asked.</p>
<p>"Yeah, but I hope you don't mind Frost wants me to share you with her." Caitlin said.</p>
<p>"Huh, so I can essentially have two girlfriends at once and not get in trouble for it. Yeah, I think I can learn to live with it." Cisco said, right as Caitlin smacked him.</p>
<p>"Not funny. And you'll mostly be getting me until Thawne is dealt with. Once he's in the ground, then I'll let Frost take the wheel for awhile." Caitlin said and Cisco nodded.</p>
<p>"Anyways, can we get back to what we were doing?" Cisco asked and Caitlin grinned.</p>
<p>"Yes and if you play your cards right, I might even let Frost come out play." Caitlin said and Cisco grinned as they kissed again and after Cisco made sure the cameras were disabled, they let things escalate from there.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I know most Flash Fans have their Opinions of West-Allen, most are Negative but this story will fixed that ship.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Barry was currently sitting in the living room of the West house with Joe and Iris after J'onn restored their memories.</p>
<p>"So, you survived the crisis after all." Joe said.</p>
<p>"Yeah, I did. Thanks to the Barry Allen of Earth 90. He found the loophole we completely overlooked. Novu just said the Flash had to die in crisis, he never said specifically that it had to be me." Barry said.</p>
<p>"I can't believe we never thought of that." Iris said.</p>
<p>"Actually, I think I know why I never did." Barry said.</p>
<p>"What do you mean?" Iris asked.</p>
<p>"I didn't want the death of one of my dopplegangers on my hands just so I could live." Barry said and Iris nodded.</p>
<p>"Makes sense. But Barry, that version of you simply made the same choice that you did. He died to everyone. Including you." Iris said.</p>
<p>"Yeah, but anyways, on the topic of people who survived the crisis, I'm not the only one who was supposed to die in it that survived to this new world." Barry said.</p>
<p>"What do you mean?" Iris asked.</p>
<p>"Oliver's alive. Apparently he was some kind of hidden paragon. The paragon of life. But that required him to die to gain the powers he'd need to restart the universe." Barry said.</p>
<p>"So, that explains why the top story on every news station is his return from that island. Though why we're back in time, I don't know." Joe said.</p>
<p>"Honestly, I think there are some things that are better left unknown, including that mystery. Best I can figure, since Oliver's the one who lit the spark that created this new world, he also brought us back to the beginning of his mission. Not that I'm complaining, since it gives me another chance to save my dad and make sure Thawne doesn't hurt anyone else." Barry said.</p>
<p>"So what's the plan in the meantime?" Iris asked.</p>
<p>"I've already had Gideon blind Thawne, his surveillance cameras won't show anything out of ordinary, allowing us, plus Cisco and Caitlin to to talk in peace." Barry said.</p>
<p>"What about Ralph and Cecille?" Joe asked.</p>
<p>"I don't want to tip Thawne off, so for now, only people he wouldn't suspect being around Star Labs are aware of what's happened." Barry said and they nodded.</p>
<p>"Still dad, you should ask Cecille out." Iris said.</p>
<p>"I will once I'm done wrapping my head around the fact that in addition to being Barry's foster father, I was also Jesse's." Joe said.</p>
<p>"Yeah, I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around being Jesse's brother. But I mean I guess it makes sense, since even before, we did look alike and we both became speedsters." Barry said.</p>
<p>"So, are you going to restore her memories?" Iris asked.</p>
<p>"No. Mainly because I think that would just cause more harm than good." Barry said and they nodded.</p>
<p>"I guess it's a good thing she's still at Hudson University." Iris said.</p>
<p>"Well I'm kind of insulted that my own sister wouldn't leave school because I was in a coma, especially since she's not even that far away." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Barry, she was by your side as often as she could, but in the end, she had to get back to school." Iris said and Barry nodded and Joe could see that there was something that they needed to talk about and since he had a pretty good idea of what it was, he decided to give them some privacy.</p>
<p>"So, you have your double's memories?" Iris asked.</p>
<p>"Yep and you have your's." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Then we both remember one positive from having Jesse here?" Iris asked and Barry smiled.</p>
<p>"Yeah, she kept pushing me until I asked you out in high school and we've been together ever since." Barry said and Iris smiled.</p>
<p>"So I guess that will make this less awkward for me to do this." Iris said with a smile as she kissed him.</p>
<p>"Glad we won't have to wait two years for me to work up the courage to do that." Barry said.</p>
<p>"So am I. Now, maybe we should start looking into getting our loft back." Iris said with a smile.</p>
<p>"Agreed." Barry said with a smile.</p>
<p>"What exactly are you working on now?" Caitlin asked her boyfriend as she entered his workshop.</p>
<p>"Barry's suit. Need to make sure the Flash is ready to make his debut when the other metas choose not to play nice." Cisco said.</p>
<p>"And what about my suit?" Caitlin asked.</p>
<p>"So, you need one?" Cisco asked.</p>
<p>"You tell me?" Caitlin asked as she shifted to Frost.</p>
<p>"So, you're still here on this earth? Are you gonna kill me?" Cisco asked, honestly worried about that.</p>
<p>"Don't worry, since Caity is still the dominant mind of this body, you're safe. Besides, I never really hated you, I just hated your choices. Especially how frequently you disregarded Caity. Now that's clearly no longer a problem, we won't have any. But just know, if you break her heart, I will break yours. Literally." Frost said as Caitlin took back control.</p>
<p>"Did you have to let your crazy twin threaten me?" Cisco asked.</p>
<p>"Hey, you wanted to know if I still had my powers." Caitlin shrugged.</p>
<p>"But anyways, yes, I am working on your suit." Cisco said.</p>
<p>"And what about yours?" Caitlin asked and Cisco sighed.</p>
<p>"I don't know." Cisco said.</p>
<p>"What, you don't know if you have your powers back?" Caitlin asked.</p>
<p>"No, not that?" Cisco said as he blasted a nearby bucket across the room.</p>
<p>"So you have your powers back." Caitlin said.</p>
<p>"Yeah, I'm just not sure if I want them back. I mean yes, when Novu gave me my powers back for Crisis, I was reminded of how powerful I used to be, but at the same time, he didn't give me a choice about whether or not I have my powers back and but now that I have them back and crisis is over, I'm not sure if I want to keep them." Cisco said.</p>
<p>"So what, you just want to forget about all the people you saved as Vibe. Cisco, not everyone is meant for a normal life. Look, I didn't agree with a lot of what Mar Novu has done, but giving you your powers back, that's something I did agree with. I missed having you out there. I missed Vibe and I know you did too. Vibe is not just something you can set aside. He's a part of you, powers or no powers. Just like how Frost is a part of me. You can't turn your back on your destiny Cisco and like it or not, your destiny is to be a hero." Caitlin said.</p>
<p>"I know, I just wanted a normal life." Cisco said.</p>
<p>"Normal is overrated. And let's face it, our lives stopped being the normal the moment we started working for the man posing as Harrison Wells. Why try to be normal now?" Caitlin asked and Cisco chuckled.</p>
<p>"You're right. I just didn't want to believe it. I did miss being Vibe and I did feel incomplete without my powers." Cisco said.</p>
<p>"Barry will be very happy to find out that Vibe is back." Caitlin said.</p>
<p>"So, when are we going to tell him?" Cisco asked.</p>
<p>"Once the team is assembled, since I'm sure that Barry and Iris at least have some kind of wager going on." Caitlin said and Cisco smiled.</p>
<p>"I wonder how much they bet on us." Cisco said.</p>
<p>"Well, we'll find out later." Caitlin said with a smile as they kissed again before Caitlin let Cisco get back to work.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Hey, where are you going?" Iris asked later that night when she saw him move to leave the house.</p>
<p>"Into the Speed force." Barry said.</p>
<p>"What, why?" Iris asked.</p>
<p>"Because I owe it an apology for what happened when Bloodwork infected me and I think that it might be affecting my powers." Barry said.</p>
<p>"What do you mean?" Iris asked.</p>
<p>"My speed, it feels off, weaker, less stable than it was before crisis. I need to find out why." Barry said and Iris nodded.</p>
<p>"Come home to me." Iris said.</p>
<p>"I always will." Barry assured her as he kissed her before speeding out of the house.</p>
<p>It took Barry longer than usual to gain enough speed to enter the speed force, but when as soon as he entered the portal, he could immediately tell something was off.</p>
<p>"What's going on here?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"We're dying Barry Allen." a familiar voice said and Barry turned around to find himself back in his childhood bedroom, with what looked like his mother lying in the bed, but she looked sick.</p>
<p>"What? How is that even possible?" Barry asked as he rushed to her side.</p>
<p>"Because of what you did." the speed force said.</p>
<p>"Wait, because I attacked you. I didn't mean to, I'm so sorry." Barry said, but the speed force shook its head.</p>
<p>"We forgive you for that, but that is not why we're dying." the speed force said.</p>
<p>"Then why?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"A few days ago, an unknown energy entered the speed force. It was unlike anything we'd ever encountered and it has already begun to destabilize the speed force. We can't contain it much longer and soon it will destroy us." the speed force said.</p>
<p>"The spectre's energy. I didn't know." Barry said as he realized that what he'd made Oliver do was the cause of this.</p>
<p>"It's okay Barry Allen. You did what you had to do to save the world. We don't blame you for this." the speed force said.</p>
<p>"How can I fix this? Just tell me what to do and I will do it. It's only been a few days, there has to be something I can do to get the energy out." Barry said.</p>
<p>"No, it's too late. We don't know how much time is left, but you need to spend it preparing to go on without us." the speed force said.</p>
<p>"What do you mean? Without you, I'm powerless and Thawne will win." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Thawne found a solution to protect himself from this problem." The speed force reminded him.</p>
<p>"He created his own speed force. But there's no way he'd ever tell me how to do that and I can't afford to let him know that I'm onto him." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Fortunately, there is someone else that Thawne did tell about how to do it. And everything you need is in there." the speed force said as she struggled to point to the nightstand, where Barry then saw a familiar looking notebook on it.</p>
<p>"It can't be." Barry said as he picked it up and saw that it was indeed Nora's notebook.</p>
<p>"Before she was erased, she was a part of the speed force, which means that we have access to all her memories. Including everything that was in that journal and allowed us to recreate it. Just as we did your suit the first time you visited us." the speed force said.</p>
<p>"Are you saying that Thawne taught Nora how to create a speed force?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"He did. And everything you'll need to carry on after we're gone is inside that notebook." the speed force said.</p>
<p>"Could this information be used to save you instead?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"We don't know and there is not enough time to test it. The only way to ensure your success and your continued existence as the Flash in this new universe is to create a new speed force to counter Thawne's negative one." the speed force said as she coughed.</p>
<p>"Are you sure?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"Yes. But Barry, it is good to see you again, one last time." the speed force said and Barry couldn't stop tears from rolling down his cheeks.</p>
<p>"I'm so sorry I did this to you." Barry said.</p>
<p>"You did not know what would happen, not even we did. All that you can do now is keep running and make sure that you'll never have to stop. Now go, the more time you spend in here, the more speed you use up and you can no longer afford to spare any of it." the speed force said and Barry nodded as he reluctantly got up and looked at her one last time.</p>
<p>"I'll make you proud. You and mom." Barry said and the speed force smiled.</p>
<p>"You already have. Now keep running my beautiful boy. And don't ever stop." the speed force said and Barry nodded as he ran out, holding Nora's journal close to his heart as he did.</p>
<p>"Cisco, Caitlin, what are you doing here? Not that it isn't good to see you." Iris asked when she showed Cisco and Caitlin into the West House.</p>
<p>"Barry called, told us to meet him here. He didn't say why?" Cisco said.</p>
<p>"Well, anyways, it's good to see you both." Iris said with a smile as she hugged Caitlin and then Cisco as Joe joined them.</p>
<p>"Cisco, Caitlin, I didn't think we'd be seeing you guys again this soon." Joe said with a chuckle.</p>
<p>"Barry called them and asked them to meet him here. And now all we're missing is Barry." Iris said, right as Barry entered the room.</p>
<p>"Barry, not that I don't enjoy a spontaneous Team Flash moment, but why are we having it?" Joe asked, only to realize the look on Barry's face.</p>
<p>"Barry, what's wrong?" Iris asked.</p>
<p>"The speed force is dying." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Wait, what? How is that even possible?" Cisco asked.</p>
<p>"During the crisis, I forced Oliver to give me some of his spectre energy, long story, to give me the energy boost I needed to get myself and the other paragons into the speed force. What I didn't realize was that doing so would destabilize the speed force. It's dying." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Well, we can find a way to save it." Iris said.</p>
<p>"There's not enough time. Besides, it gave me the key to creating a new one." Barry said as he pulled out a familiar object.</p>
<p>"Is that?" Iris asked as she took the notebook.</p>
<p>"Nora's notebook. Somehow, the speed force managed to preserve it and since we know that Thawne taught Nora everything he knows. Including how to create a speed force. And all that information is in here. We just need to have Gideon translate it." Barry said and they all nodded.</p>
<p>"We should get to work so that we can restore your full speed before Thawne suspects anything." Caitlin said.</p>
<p>"We'll get to work on it tomorrow. Now, let's just enjoy our time together." Barry said with a smile, which they all shared.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Barry was working in his lab at CCPD when he heard someone enter it.</p><p>"You look good for someone who just got out of a coma." Kara said with a smile and Barry smiled as well as he got up from his work and hugged her.</p><p>"Hey, what brings you to Central City?" Barry asked.</p><p>"Making Cisco's dream of making my suit come true and also talking to Iris about a career opportunity, she can tell you later." Kara said and Barry nodded.</p><p>"It's great to see you. Though I'm going to tell Cisco to put your suit ahead of mine." Barry said.</p><p>"What why?" Kara asked.</p><p>"Because I'm not sure how long I'll be able to be the Flash for right now." Barry said.</p><p>"What do you mean?" Kara asked.</p><p>"Do you remember when I made Oliver give me some of his spectre energy to allow me to get us into the speed force during crisis?" Barry asked.</p><p>"Of course." Kara said.</p><p>"Well, when he did, the energy, it destabilized the speed force. It's dying and my powers are disappearing with it." Barry said.</p><p>"Oh my god. Are you okay?" Kara asked.</p><p>"For now. And I've got a lead on something that can recreate the speed force, but unfortunately, it's taking time." Barry said.</p><p>"Is there anything I can do to help?" Kara asked.</p><p>"Unless you have a spare speed force, no. Sorry." Barry said.</p><p>"I'll check the Fortress's archives. It has tons of data not only on krypton, but the universe. I'm sure that in the entire universe, there's got to be some kind of alien race that has studied the speed force." Kara said.</p><p>"Thank you. But anyways, Kara, there's something else I need to tell you." Barry said.</p><p>"I'm listening." Kara said.</p><p>"You remember how Oliver saved us during the end of Elseworlds?" Barry asked.</p><p>"Yeah, he got an arrow from the monitor to destroy the book of destiny and save us. Why?" Kara asked as she didn't like where this was going.</p><p>"It turns out that the reason he got Novu to give him that arrow is because he made a devil's bargain. His life for ours." Barry said.</p><p>"He traded his life for ours." Kara said.</p><p>"Yeah." Barry said.</p><p>"And yet he still managed to find a way out of that. And Barry, we both know that either one of us would've made the same call that he did." Kara said.</p><p>"I know, but still." Barry said.</p><p>"I say, we all enjoy this new world and new lives we've created. And we'll find a way to restore your powers, but Barry, you don't need them to be a hero. They're just a tool. You're a hero with or without them." Kara said and Barry nodded.</p><p>"I know, but it doesn't make it any easier when the man who killed my mom and framed my dad for it is still out there and soon I will literally be powerless to stop him." Barry said.</p><p>"We'll stop him. You don't have to deal with this demon alone. We're still a team." Kara said.</p><p>"Easy for you to say. You lose your powers, you just need to spend some time in the sun. Me, I have no idea if I'll be able to restore my powers." Barry said and Kara sighed.</p><p>"Fine. Be that way. Just remember something. Having powers may make our jobs easier, but they aren't what make us heroes. Oliver, Sara, Kate, they don't have powers. That's never stopped them from being heroes. And while I'm sure that you'll figure it out, I also know that if you can't, you'll find another way to be a hero." Kara said as she walked out of the lab and now Barry felt guilty. He hadn't meant to snap at her, but losing his powers while he knew Thawne was still alive, that burned him up and he'd taken out on Kara. He'd have to apologize to her.</p><p>After his shift at CCPD was over, Barry headed over to Star Labs so he could use Gideon to decrypt Nora's journal so that he, Cisco and Caitlin would have access to all the information they needed to create a new speed force. However, now that he thought about it, the one positive about what was going on with his powers would make it easier to fool Thawne, since in order to conserve what speed force he had left, since while the speed force wasn't dead yet, it would be soon, which meant that he'd have to run slower. As in, the speeds he'd been able to run at when he first got his powers. Once he's created a new speed force, he'd be able to run at his real top speed, but for now, he needed to play it safe.</p><p>Anyways, when Barry arrived at Star Labs, he quickly made sure that Thawne wasn't around before entering the time vault and turning on Gideon.</p><p>"Hello Barry Allen. What can I assist you with today?" Gideon asked, since Barry had already been in the time vault to blind Thawne's cameras, so she was familiar with him.</p><p>"I need you to decode every entry in this notebook and look for anything regarding creating artificial speed forces and of course, do not record any memory of this encounter. Thawne cannot know I'm onto him." Barry said.</p><p>"Yes Barry." Gideon said as Barry placed the journal on the plinth and allowed Gideon to start scanning each page until she'd through the entire journal.</p><p>"Well?" Barry asked.</p><p>"Translating." Gideon said as she displayed the data.</p><p>"Send all artificial speed force data to Cisco's computer, but make sure Thawne can't detect what it really is." Barry said and Gideon nodded.</p><p>"As you wish. Is there anything else I can help you with?" Gideon asked.</p><p>"Erase all records of this meeting from your archives." Barry said.</p><p>"Already done." Gideon said.</p><p>"Thank you Gideon." Barry said as he quickly walked out of the vault.</p><p>"So, did you get it?" Barry asked when he entered Cisco's lab to find him and Caitlin waiting for him.</p><p>"Yep. We're going through the data now. I think it could be helpful to bring Professor Stein in on this though." Cisco said after seeing how complicated this was.</p><p>"Good time to bring in Firestorm I guess." Barry said and Cisco and Caitlin both nodded.</p><p>"Listen Barry, there's something we need to tell you." Caitlin said.</p><p>"Okay?" Barry asked.</p><p>"We're dating." Cisco said and Barry didn't look surprised.</p><p>"Looks like Iris owes me 20 bucks." Barry said.</p><p>"You two made a bet?" Caitlin asked, not at all surprised.</p><p>"Yep." Barry said, completely unashamed.</p><p>"Great. So anyways, where do we start to look for Firestorm?" Cisco asked.</p><p>"It's simple. Since we don't know if Stein has merged with Ronnie or Jax, I'll find something of his that you can vibe off of. It's good to have you back with your powers." Barry said.</p><p>"Agreed. I'd forgotten how much I missed them and I'm not giving them up again." Cisco said.</p><p>"Good. Because we need every asset we can get if we're going to stop Thawen and get my dad out of prison. This time without opening a breach to Zoom." Barry said.</p><p>"Agreed." Caitlin said.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Gideon, what is so important that you risked contacting me while my associates were within earshot." Thawne asked, annoyed as he entered the time vault.</p><p>"There has been a critical change in the future. One that you must see immediately." Gideon said and Thawne nodded.</p><p>"Okay then, show me." Thawne said, right as the newspaper article appeared, but there was one major difference.</p><p>"Gideon, where is the article about the Flash?" Thawne asked.</p><p>"According to the historical archive, this is no record of the Flash." Gideon said.</p><p>"How is that possible?" Thawne asked.</p><p>"I suggest connecting to the normal speed force to get your answer." Gideon said and Thawne just sighed, but nodded and did as Gideon suggested and immediately, got his answer.</p><p>"The speed force, it's dying. Something's destabilized it." Thawne said.</p><p>"Indeed. And if the speed force dies, then Barry Allen will be unable to become the Flash." Gideon said.</p><p>"Gideon, what are the odds that Barry will be able to reach the speed I need him to before the speed force dies?" Thawne asked.</p><p>"Negative. In fact, the harder and faster you make Barry Allen run, the faster he will lose his speed and you will lose any chance of returning to your own time. As far as I can tell, there is only one solution where you will still be able to succeed in your plan." Gideon said and Thawne seethed.</p><p>"I have to create a new speed force for Barry don't I?" Thawne asked through gritted teeth.</p><p>"If you want him to be fast enough to open the time portal, then yes, you will." Gideon said and Thawne growled as he kicked his wheelchair.</p><p>"Fine. If only because it's the only way I'll get home with my own speed to unreliable at the moment. Gideon, what options are there in the meantime to maintain Barry's speed until the new speed force is created?" Thawne asked.</p><p>"I'd recommend use of a tachyon device." Gideon said and Thawne nodded as he sat back down in his chair, grumbling about what he needed to do in order to get home, unaware that he'd been overheard.</p><p>"I can't believe we didn't think of this sooner. Thawne has motivation for creating a new speed force, since it's the only way he'll get home." Barry said with a very satisfied grin.</p><p>"Yep. And all he's really going to be doing is giving you what you need to beat him." Cisco said.</p><p>"It feels kind of poetic that we're using Thawne's own surveillance system to spy on him." Caitlin said and Barry chuckled.</p><p>"Well, he should've known better than to use an AI I created." Barry said, completely unapologetic.</p><p>"True. But what's done is done." Cisco said as they heard Thawne about to enter the room, so they quickly shut off the feed.</p><p>"Dr. Wells, what's going on?" Barry asked.</p><p>"I have discovered a hiccup in your powers Barry." Thawne said.</p><p>"Really. What sort of hiccup?" Barry asked.</p><p>"One that if not resolved quickly could end up causing you to lose your powers before you even have a chance to get to use them. I'm working on a solution, but I will need Cisco's help. As well as your sister's." Thawne said.</p><p>"Jesse, why?" Barry asked.</p><p>"Are you forgetting that your sister is doing her masters and Phd studies in extra dimensional energies such as a speed force. She could be useful in helping create this new force to sustain your powers." Thawne said.</p><p>"Okay, I'll call Jesse and see if she's able to help." Barry said.</p><p>"Good. In the meantime, Cisco, with me." Thawne said as Cisco followed him.</p><p>"I guess I'd better go call my sister." Barry said awkwardly.</p><p>"Or, you could speak to her in person." Caitlin said.</p><p>"Look Cait, shouldn't I be conserving my speed?" Barry asked.</p><p>"Barry, Jesse is a scientist, so it's likely she'll need proof of what you tell her." Caitlin said.</p><p>"Okay, I'll go head towards Hudson University and talk to her. But, you mind monitoring my speed to make sure I don't go too fast that I end up depleting my supply of speed." Barry asked.</p><p>"I'm on it. Oh, and since Jesse goes to Hudson university, maybe you should also poke around Professor Stein's office, see if you can find any clues." Caitlin said.</p><p>"Got it." Barry said as he sped out of the room.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse was preparing to submit her thesis for the Ph d, not that she actually expected to get it, since she had been studying extra dimensional energies, particularly how a person could potentially harness the energies of super luminal particles, also called tachyons, to move faster than the speed of sound. Just like how her brother had become a CSI to prove their father's innocence, Jesse had become a scientist with the same intent. She knew that before anyone would really listen to what she and Barry had been saying about the man in the yellow suit, first she'd need to prove that what happened was actually possible. Though she couldn't believe that she'd have to, considering they lived in a world where aliens existed, but then again, in the scientific community, just like in police investigations, proof was everything.</p><p>Anyways, she was driven from her thoughts when she heard someone walk up behind her.</p><p>"So, I wake up from a coma and my little sister can't be bothered to pull her head out of her notes and come and visit?" Barry asked with a smile as he entered her lab.</p><p>Jesse smiled as she whirled around and hugged her brother.</p><p>"I'm sorry I haven't been able to come down sooner, but I'm a bit busy preparing to submit my thesis for my Phd. Not that I expect to get it. Until I find actual proof of extra dimensional energies being harnessed to allow human beings to be able to move at super speeds, the doctorate committee won't give me my Ph. D." Jesse said angrily.</p><p>"Well, I might know a way that you can prove it." Barry said.</p><p>"Really, how?" Jesse asked eagerly.</p><p>"Can you turn off the surveillance cameras for a minute?" Barry asked and Jesse nodded, confused about why her brother would ask her to do that, but did it nonetheless.</p><p>"Okay, what's going on?" Jesse asked.</p><p>"It turns out when a person is struck by lightning created by a storm cloud caused by a particle accelerator explosion, they can do this." Barry said as he sped around the lab, much to Jesse's shock.</p><p>"Whoa, how?" Jesse asked when he came to a stop in front of her.</p><p>"When I was struck by that lightning, it gave me a connection to exactly what you've been studying. This thing is called the speed force. It's an extra dimensional realm of energy that exists outside of space and time." Barry said.</p><p>"That's incredible." Jesse said, thinking about how her research could be impacted knowing that it was right.</p><p>"Well, don't get your hopes up, because something is causing the speed force to deteriorate and if it does, my powers will fade." Barry said.</p><p>"What? Barry, those powers are incredible. And they could be the key to getting dad out of prison." Jesse said.</p><p>"I know. But that's why I'm here." Barry said.</p><p>"What?" Jesse asked.</p><p>"I've been working with Dr. Wells, Caitlin Snow and Cisco Ramon at Star Labs to control my speed. Dr. Wells and Cisco are working on developing a new energy source for me to draw my powers from and Dr. Wells asked me to ask you to help because of your research." Barry said.</p><p>"Absolutely." Jesse said as she pulled out her phone.</p><p>"Who are you calling?" Barry asked.</p><p>"The thesis committee, I'm going to put my Ph. D on hold, since if I can help create a speed force, then I'll finally have the proof I need for my research." Jesse said.</p><p>"Jesse, you can't tell anyone about this. The only people who know are you, Harrison Wells, Caitlin, Cisco, Joe and Iris." Barry said.</p><p>"Right, secret identities, but still, with Dr. Wells' help, I'm sure I can prove my thesis while also helping you out." Jesse said and Barry nodded.</p><p>"Okay. Let me know when you're ready to head to star labs." Barry said.</p><p>"I'll meet you there, since no offense, but I really don't want to risk any of my clothes burning off from the speed you run at." Jesse said.</p><p>"That's fair." Barry said as he sped out of the lab.</p><p>A week later, Jesse had ended up arranging to finish school at home so she could help create the artificial speed force with Wells and Cisco. So far she'd used her research to find a temporary solution for Barry's speed problem, that being her tachyon research, since she'd discovered that if Barry's cells were supercharged by tachyons, it would temporarily slow the deterioration of the speed force in his system and buy them more time to create a speed force for him.</p><p>In the meantime, Barry was having to get used to going slower, since Caitlin's tests showed that the speed force was nearly dead and Barry needed to store what speed he had left until they could create a new speed force. However, that did make it easier for him to keep Thawne in the dark about what had happened.</p><p>Anyways, Barry was staring at his Flash suit, since while Cisco had completed it, Barry refused to put it on until he could truly be the Flash, with unlimited speed.</p><p>"Hey babe." Iris said as she walked up to him.</p><p>"Hey." Barry said.</p><p>"You know, Cisco didn't make that suit just to collect dust." Iris said.</p><p>"I can't put that suit on. Not yet." Barry said and Iris sighed.</p><p>"Barry, your speed doesn't make you the Flash." Iris said and Barry sighed.</p><p>"You know Kara told me something very similar to that? I guess I'm just having a hard time accepting it." Barry said sadly as Iris rubbed his shoulders.</p><p>"Barry, the Flash is not the only way you can help people and I didn't fall in love with the Flash. I fell in love with Barry Allen. And that will never change, with or without your speed." Iris said as she kissed him.</p><p>"I know. It's just, after having it for so long, it's hard to imagine living without it." Barry said.</p><p>"You won't have to. Thawne and Cisco and Jesse are working around the clock to create a new speed force and they will. I'm pretty sure the only reason it's taking Thawne so long is because he's working with more rudimentary tools than he did when he created the negative speed force." Iris said.</p><p>"We are never letting Nora anywhere near this time around." Barry said and Iris nodded her agreement, right as Jesse entered the room.</p><p>"Barry, come to the cortex, I think we have found a solution." Jesse said eagerly as Barry immediately shot up as he headed towards the cortex with Iris and Jesse on his heels.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"So, what's the solution you guys came up with?" Barry asked as he and Iris entered the cortex to see Thawne and Jesse working on the tachyon device.</p><p>"We think that we can use this device to supercharge the remaining speed force energy in your system to reach critical mass." Jesse said.</p><p>"Why would you do that?" Iris asked, since that sounded dangerous, especially the term critical mass.</p><p>"The tachyons are basically physical aspects of the speed force in its purest form that exist without the need of a human host. If those particles combine with the residual speed force energy Barry has inside of him, it should create the reaction necessary to create a new speed force." Thawne explained.</p><p>"Kind of like a big bang effect." Barry said.</p><p>"Exactly. The energy would keep building up inside of you until it had no choice to be released, creating a new speed force." Thawne said.</p><p>"However, I feel like we should warn you about a potential life threatening danger that this experiment poses." Jesse said.</p><p>"What kind of danger?" Iris asked.</p><p>"Considering that we're basically going to be triggering an explosion similar to the one that created the universe with Barry being ground zero of it, the force of the reaction could end killing you." Jesse said.</p><p>"That's a risk I'm willing to take." Barry said.</p><p>"Barry, this is too dangerous." Iris said.</p><p>"Iris, I appreciate your concern, but this is something I feel like I have to do." Barry said and Thawne nodded.</p><p>"Cisco is preparing the pipeline, since you'll need to run in it to reach the velocity necessary." Thawne said.</p><p>"Got it. So I run as fast as I can and the matrix handles the rest?" Barry asked.</p><p>"Exactly." Thawne said.</p><p>"Dr. Wells, we should make sure that the calculations for the tachyon matrix are correct, since while this is risky, any miscalculation we make increases the probability of something going wrong and something even worse happening." Jesse said and Thawne nodded as they moved out of the cortex.</p><p>"Okay Barry, this sounds too dangerous." Iris said as she turned to face her boyfriend.</p><p>"Iris, we both know that Thawne has likely made his own adjustments with his future science to reduce the risk, since he won't risk something happening to his ticket home." Barry said.</p><p>"Still, this is too risky. If something goes wrong, not only will the speed force die, but you will too." Iris said.</p><p>"Iris, I have to do this." Barry said.</p><p>"Why?" Iris asked.</p><p>"It's my fault that the speed force is dying in the first place. If I hadn't forced Oliver to give me his spectre energy back at the vanishing point, we wouldn't be in this mess." Barry said.</p><p>"Barry, you made the right call. If you hadn't, we'd all still be dead." Iris reminded him.</p><p>"Still, I feel like we should've found another way to get into the speed force. I killed the speed force, I have to make it right." Barry said and Iris sighed.</p><p>"I get it, I really do, but at the same time, I have already had to prepare for my life without you once, I don't want to have to go through it again." Iris said.</p><p>"I promise, I'll come running home to you. Like I always do." Barry promised and Iris smiled as she kissed him.</p><p>"I hope so. And I hope that this works." Iris said.</p><p>"Yeah, you and me both." Barry said as Cisco entered the cortex.</p><p>"Come on, we're ready to start the experiment. I even have something special for you to wear." Cisco said and Barry grinned.</p><p>"You finished it?" Barry asked.</p><p>"I finished it a while ago, but I was waiting until we were sure that this experiment would work to give it to you." Cisco said and Barry nodded.</p><p>"I'm guessing you've also made suits for you and Cait?" Barry asked, since they'd both revealed their powers to Thawne in a way that looked like it was an accident.</p><p>"Yep. But we've both been waiting until the Flash can make his debut, since he's the true protector of this city." Cisco said and Barry nodded at him appreciatively.</p><p>"Let's do this." Barry said as they headed towards the pipeline.</p><p>"Okay Barry, are you ready?" Thawne called to him from the cortex where he, Iris, Cisco, Caitlin, Jesse and Joe were watching from the monitors.</p><p>"As I'll ever be." Barry said as he stood at the entrance to the pipeline, fully dressed in his Flash suit that Cisco had made for him, which was exactly identical to the one he'd been wearing before the universe was rebooted and attached the tachyon booster to his chest over his emblem.</p><p>"Okay, now the tachyons will start surging into your system the minute you tap into what's left of the current speed force. Remember, no matter what happens, don't stop running." Thawne said.</p><p>"Got it." Barry said as he took a deep breath to prepare himself.</p><p>"Now run Barry, run." Thawne said and Barry did exactly did that as he began running as fast as he could as he felt the tachyons surge into his system and he could feel the energy building inside of him until it started to feel overwhelming.</p><p>"Guys, I'm starting to feel weird. Like I'm going to blow up." Barry said.</p><p>"That just means it's working." Thawne said.</p><p>"Are you crazy, shut it down!" Iris shouted at him.</p><p>"Iris, we can't. We're too close." Jesse said, though her concern for her brother was quickly rising above her desire as a scientist for this work.</p><p>"Jesse, please." Iris said and Jesse nodded.</p><p>"Barry, you need to stop now." Jesse said.</p><p>"I can't, I'm too close to the finish line." Barry said as he continued running and picking up speed.</p><p>"That's it." Iris said and before anyone could stop her, she rushed out of the safety of the cortex towards the pipeline, with Jesse right behind her to try and stop her from leaving the safe zone.</p><p>"I'm almost there." Barry said as he felt all the energy building within him about to burst and then finally, it did in a huge explosion, which surrounded Star Labs in blinding white light.</p><p>When the light died down, Joe quickly got on the comms.</p><p>"Barry, can you hear me?" Joe asked, but there was no response.</p><p>"Iris, Jesse?" he then asked, but to everyone's shock there was no response from them either.</p><p>"Cisco, search the surveillance cameras for any sign of Barry, Jesse or Iris." Thawne said and Cisco did exactly that, but he was surprised at what he found.</p><p>"There's no trace of them anywhere in Star Labs." Cisco said.</p><p>"Do you think they were disintegrated?" Joe asked.</p><p>"No. They're out there somewhere. The only question is, where?" Thawne asked.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Cisco was going through the security footage of what happened to confirm what Thawne had said, since while he wasn't surprised that Barry had been pulled into the new speed force, he wanted to be sure that's what happened to Iris and Jesse. What he found surprised him.</p><p>"Dr. Wells, you weren't completely right." Cisco said, getting their attention.</p><p>"What do you mean?" Joe demanded as he walked up to Cisco.</p><p>"This is what little security footage we managed to get as Iris and Jesse left the safe zone and entered the blast radius." Cisco said as he pulled it up on the monitors.</p><p>"Okay, what are we looking at?" Joe asked as they watched.</p><p>"Watch closely at what happens when the energy wave hits Jesse and Iris." Cisco said and they nodded as he played the footage in super slow motion for them to see.</p><p>"It looks like they're being disintegrated." Joe said as he watched the wave consume Jesse.</p><p>"No, that was Jesse being sent into the new speed force. But watch what happens when it gets close to Iris." Cisco said as they watched how right before the energy wave hit Iris, her entire body seemed to refract like a diamond before she vanished.</p><p>"What was that?" Joe asked and Thawne's lips curled into a smile.</p><p>"I think I know what happened. Follow me please." Thawne said as he wheeled down out of the cortex and the rest of them followed him until they were standing in front of a mirror that had been hung up in the hallway that Iris and Jesse had vanished from.</p><p>"What are we doing here?" Joe asked.</p><p>"Wait for it." Thawne said and Cisco was the first one to figure it out, but before he could say anything, suddenly, Iris appeared in the mirror.</p><p>"What hell is going on?" Iris asked.</p><p>"Well Iris, it appears that you are a meta." Thawne said.</p><p>"Yeah, I guessed that much when I woke up and found myself inside a mirror." Iris said, still trying to get her bearings.</p><p>"How did this happen?" Joe asked.</p><p>"My best guess is that the adrenaline rush Iris experienced when she was about to be hit with the speed force energy was enough to trigger her dormant meta powers. And her panic caused her powers to instinctively send her into this mirror, the only place where she would be safe from the blast." Thawne said.</p><p>"Great, so now that we know how I got in, how the hell do I get out?" Iris asked.</p><p>"That is a good question. One that we can figure out while we also try and get Barry and Jesse out of the new speed force." Thawne said.</p><p>"Actually, I think we might have let them get themselves out, while we may have created a speed force, none of us really understand what happens next." Cisco said as he and Caitlin shared a smirk, since they, along with Joe and Iris, knew that Thawne had to pretend like there wasn't anything he knew about the speed force in order to keep his cover.</p><p>"I just hope that they're okay." Caitlin said.</p><p>"I'm sure that they'll be fine." Joe said, since no one besides Thawne knew the speed force as well as Barry.</p><p>When Barry came to, he found himself in immense pain.</p><p>"Uh, what happened?" Barry asked.</p><p>"You were torn apart and pieced back together instantly." a familiar voice said and Barry got up to see his mother standing in front of him.</p><p>"You're the new speed force aren't you?" Barry asked with a smile.</p><p>"Yes and no." Nora said.</p><p>"What do you mean?" Barry asked.</p><p>"You merged the old speed force with a new one. The energy of a new speed force combined with the consciousness of the old one." the speed force said and Barry smiled.</p><p>"So it worked?" Barry asked.</p><p>"Yes Barry Allen, you've restored your powers and created a new speed force. And it is not only your speed that you've restored." the speed force said.</p><p>"What do you mean?" Barry asked.</p><p>"Your sister was caught in the blast radius as well. And we brought her here to restore her speed." Nora said.</p><p>"But Jesse wasn't a speedster." Barry said.</p><p>"Jesse Allen never existed before. But Jesse Wells did. And since Jesse Allen is the doppelganger of Jesse Wells, we can give her the same gift we gave her counterpart. Besides, we don't want her to be jealous of her brother." the speed force with a smile, which Barry shared.</p><p>"What about Wally?" Barry asked.</p><p>"The Wally West of this new Earth has yet to be exposed to the reaction necessary to turn into a speedster. But he will eventually become Kid Flash again." the speed force said and Barry nodded.</p><p>"Okay, I'm sure Joe will be thrilled. But anyways, where's Jesse?" Barry asked.</p><p>"Use your connection to her to find her. Because since she does not and cannot possess the memories of Jesse Wells, she doesn't know how to use her newfound speed, which means that she will not be able to get out of here herself." the speed force said and Barry nodded.</p><p>"Thanks." Barry said as he sped off and it felt so good to have his full speed back as he sped through the new speed force.</p><p>Barry finally found Jesse, he found her at their old house. The house they'd lived in before Thawne had ruined their lives.</p><p>"Jesse." Barry said as he entered the house to find her just staring into the kitchen to find her staring at a memory.</p><p>"Barry, look." Jesse said as she just kept looking on and Barry nodded as he saw what she was looking at.</p><p>It was the last family dinner they had before their mother had been murdered and their father had been killed.</p><p>"Jesse, we need to go." Barry said.</p><p>"Barry, where are we?" Jesse asked.</p><p>"We're in the speed force. It pulled you in to save you from the explosion and gave you powers. And now we need to go." Barry said.</p><p>"Look at them Barry. Look at us." Jesse said, tears in her eyes.</p><p>"I know." Barry said as he placed his hand on her shoulder.</p><p>"Look at what was taken from us." Jesse said as she looked at their parents.</p><p>"I know. I miss them everyday. But we have to move forward. Besides, Dad is still alive and with our powers we can finally find the man who killed mom and get him out of prison." Barry said and Jesse nodded as she took one last look at the family she'd lost.</p><p>"Let's go." Jesse said as she followed her brother as they sped out of the speed force.</p><p>"So, any ideas on how to get me out of this mirror?" Iris asked impatiently, since there wasn't really much else she could do considering she was trapped in a mirror.</p><p>"Iris, it's dependent on you." Thawne said.</p><p>"What are you talking about?" Iris asked.</p><p>"Iris, your powers are what got you in that mirror, you have to use them to get out." Cisco said.</p><p>"I don't know how. In case you've forgotten, I've never had these powers before. I don't know how." Iris said angrily.</p><p>"Try concentrating on the mirror. You opened the portal into that mirror, so maybe if you focus, you can open the doorway to get back." Caitlin suggested.</p><p>"It's worth a shot." Iris said as she held her hand up to her end of the glass and closed her eyes as she did her best to focus on the mirror.</p><p>"It's not working." Iris said.</p><p>"Keep trying." Joe said.</p><p>"This isn't working." Iris said angrily as suddenly, the mirror began swirling and Iris jumped out.</p><p>"How did I do that?" Iris asked.</p><p>"Interesting. It would appear that your powers require a rush of adrenaline to operate, since both times your powers activated when you felt emotions that triggered the adrenaline, fear and anger. We'll work more on that so you can control them at will." Thawne promised and Iris nodded, right as a swirling portal opened and Barry and Jesse both ran out of it, both of them bringing a trail of yellow lightning behind them.</p><p>"Jesse, you have powers now?" Joe asked.</p><p>"Yeah, we did it, we managed to create a new speed force. And in the process, turned Jesse into a speedster too." Barry said.</p><p>"Looks like we'll have to train you both then." Thawne said.</p><p>"Sounds like fun. Can't wait to get started." Jesse said as Barry had to resist the urge to shove his hand through Thawne's chest, since now that his powers were back, he had no use of the Reverse Flash, since he knew he could likely get Thawne's confession from Gideon.</p>
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<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>That night, after Barry, Jesse and Iris had all returned, Thawne decided that he needed to be sure that the future had been restored, which was why he was now in the Time Vault.</p><p>"Gideon, has the future been restored?" Thawne asked.</p><p>"Yes, the historical records once again show Barry Allen as the Flash." Gideon said as she projected the article of the Flash disappearing in his biggest fight with Thawne ever had returned.</p><p>"Excellent." Thawne said.</p><p>"However, there has been another change in the timeline that I think you should be made aware of." Gideon said.</p><p>"Tell me?" Thawne said.</p><p>"While I cannot determine how exactly, this article appears in the timeline." Gideon said as she brought up another news article that was dated about a month after the previous one that read "Flash Returns. The City Celebrates." written by Iris West-Allen.</p><p>"Wait, he comes back?" Thawne growled, since one the small bit of comfort he'd found in being stuck in this time period was that at least he'd succeeded in removing the Flash from the timeline. Now he learned that his greatest enemy had indeed survived.</p><p>"I have no information on what causes this change." Gideon said.</p><p>"His sister. Bring up the historical archive on Jesse Allen." Thawne said.</p><p>"Jesse Allen, daughter of Henry and Nora Allen, younger sister of Barry Allen, also known as Impulse, the fastest woman alive, recruited in the Justice League of America." Gideon said.</p><p>"Stop. Of course. Jesse was never a speedster in the old timeline. But now she has the ability to follow us into the speed force and bring her brother back." Thawne said.</p><p>"What would you like to do about it?" Gideon asked.</p><p>"Correct the error made to the timeline. I gave Jesse Allen her speed. Now I need to take it away." Thawne said.</p><p>"That will be difficult. You never were able to figure out how to steal the Flash's speed." Gideon reminded him.</p><p>"The difference is that now I can study Jesse Allen's speed in person. That was the main reason I was never able to steal Barry's speed." Thawne said.</p><p>"I'd recommend waiting until both Barry and Jesse Allen have reached the speed necessary to send you home." Gideon said.</p><p>"I'll keep that in mind Gideon." Thawne said, since honestly, he could care less about Jesse. Barry was the only one he truly needed for his plans to succeed. Jesse Allen having speed would help him accelerate his plans, she was ultimately unnecessary.</p><p>The next day, Barry decided that before he headed to CCPD, he'd pay a visit to an old friend. One that he'd admittedly forgotten about until now, despite the fact that he'd had J'onn restore his memories too.</p><p>Anyways, as Barry walked through the familiar hallway, he took a deep breath before knocking on the familiar door.</p><p>"Come in." a familiar voice said and Barry opened the door to find Ralph Dibny waiting for him.</p><p>"What took you so long rookie?" Ralph asked with a smile, which Barry shared.</p><p>"Sorry, we had some other complications to deal with that kind of caused you to slip our minds." Barry said, a little embarrassed.</p><p>"Really, how so?" Ralph asked.</p><p>"Well for starters, I have a sister in this reality." Barry said.</p><p>"Seriously?" Ralph asked.</p><p>"Yeah, remember Harry's daughter from Earth two?" Barry asked.</p><p>"Jesse? Huh, I guess that makes sense. You're both speedsters after all." Ralph said.</p><p>"Yeah, then we also learned that the speed force was dying and had to create a new one, which resulted in Jesse becoming a speedster and us discovering that Iris also has powers now." Barry said.</p><p>"Huh, so I guess that means that the only member of Team Flash without powers is Joe now." Ralph said.</p><p>"So does that mean?" Barry asked and Ralph nodded as he stretched his arm out to reveal that he'd gotten his powers from the accelerator explosion.</p><p>"Well, I guess the good news is that DeVoe won't be after you since you got your powers from the particle accelerator and not from being on a bus." Barry said and Ralph smiled.</p><p>"That is a perk." Ralph said.</p><p>"While I'm here, I need you to do something for me." Barry said.</p><p>"Name it." Ralph said.</p><p>"Keep tabs on Thawne for me. We need as much evidence against him as we can get." Barry said.</p><p>"You got it." Ralph said.</p><p>"I'll talk to Cisco about making the Elongated man suit." Barry said.</p><p>"Thanks." Ralph said as Barry sped out of his office towards CCPD.</p>
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<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Chapter 11</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The following day, Barry finally got around to going to Iron Heights to see his father.</p><p>"Hey slugger. About time you came to see me. But then again, you still visit more than your sister does." Henry said and Barry smiled, happy that despite the fact that his father was still in prison, at least he was still alive. And no matter what it took, he was going to make sure that his father stayed that way.</p><p>"Yeah, sorry, but ever since I woke up from that coma, my life has kind of been sped up." Barry said.</p><p>"Really. How's Iris?" Henry asked.</p><p>"She's good. Happy that I'm awake. And she's going to be even happier soon." Barry revealed.</p><p>"Does that mean what I think it means?" Henry asked and Barry nodded.</p><p>"Iris and I have been together since high school and the fact that she waited for me the entire time proves that she's the one for me. So, I'm planning on popping the question." Barry said.</p><p>"Well congratulations son. Have you asked Joe for his blessing yet?" Henry asked.</p><p>"Not yet, but I'm going to later tonight and also ask him for mom's ring, since I think that she'd want Iris to wear it." Barry said and Henry nodded.</p><p>"I think you're right. I'm so happy for you son." Henry said.</p><p>"You're going to be there at the wedding, dad." Barry said.</p><p>"Barry, by that logic, you might never get married." Henry said.</p><p>"While I'd prefer that it's as a free man, I also know that since you've had nothing but good behavior, I think that Joe might be able to get you a temporary release to be in attendance at my wedding and maybe even at Jesse's." Barry said.</p><p>"If your sister ever does get married. Honestly Barry, she's even more focused on her work than you are, since at least you took the time to have a relationship with someone." Henry said.</p><p>"Iris and I are working on getting Jesse out a bit more." Barry said.</p><p>"Good luck with that son. And tell Iris that I am honored to welcome her to this family." Henry said and Barry smiled.</p><p>"I will give her the message, assuming she says yes." Barry said, even though he already knew she would.</p><p>"If she was willing to wait for you for nine months, I'm sure she'll say yes." Henry said.</p><p>"Thanks dad. I'll come visit you soon." Barry promised as he watched the guard take his father back to the cell block.</p><p>Barry's next stop after visiting Iron Heights was the West House, since he wanted to do it right this time.</p><p>"Hey Barr, what brings you here?" Joe asked when Barry entered the house.</p><p>"I need to talk to you about something. Is Iris here?" Barry asked.</p><p>"No, she's out running down leads on Wally. Why?" Joe asked.</p><p>"Because I don't want her to hear what we're talking about." Barry said and now Joe had an idea of what Barry was here for.</p><p>"Even though I know what your answer will be, after what we talked about last time, I thought I'd do it right this time." Barry said.</p><p>"Okay then. What is it?" Joe asked with a smile.</p><p>"I'd like your blessing to ask Iris to marry me. Again." Barry said and Joe smiled.</p><p>"Of course you have my blessing. I'm just glad that this time you had the sense to ask me for it this time." Joe said with a smile.</p><p>"Then, can I also have the ring?" Barry asked and Joe nodded.</p><p>"You know where it is in the attic." Joe said and Barry nodded as he sped upstairs to grab the ring before coming back down.</p><p>"And Joe, before I leave, I'd recommend that you start getting estimates to start renovating this place so that way when you and Cecille have Jenna, she's not living in a house that's falling apart." Barry said.</p><p>"Very funny." Joe said.</p><p>"I'm not kidding." Barry said.</p><p>"I know. I have a contractor coming by tomorrow to get an estimate." Joe said, rolling his eyes.</p><p>"I'm surprised that you and Cecille aren't back together?" Barry asked.</p><p>"Actually, we're going out on our first date in this new world tonight. Thanks again for having that J'onn guy restore her memories." Joe said.</p><p>"No problem. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go." Barry said as he sped out of the house.</p>
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<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Chapter 12</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"So, what was like, being in the mirror?" Cisco asked Iris.</p><p>"Weird." Iris said.</p><p>"What do you mean?" Thawne asked.</p><p>"Well, it wasn't just being on the other side of the mirror, from the brief look I got around before I started freaking out, I realized that it was like another Star Labs, only a reflection if that makes any sense?" Iris said, still a bit confused.</p><p>"Iris, I think I may have a better idea of how your powers work now." Thawne said.</p><p>"Meaning?" Iris asked.</p><p>"An old colleague of mine, Eva McCulloch, she theorized that this universe was one plane and that it has a mirror copy of itself. Naturally most of the scientific community, myself included, believed that it was nothing but a bunch of nonsense with no substantial evidence to prove her theory, but now it appears that she was right. Iris, I think that you discovered the mirrorverse." Thawne said.</p><p>"Cool name." Cisco admitted.</p><p>"So what?" Iris asked.</p><p>"I believe that your powers, much like how Barry draws his power from the speed force and Cisco draws his power from the energy of this universe, you draw your power directly from the mirrorverse and while the adrenaline rush triggered your metagene, you weren't fully able to access or utilize those powers until you were able to come into direct contact with it." Thawne said.</p><p>"So, do you think that I can enter the mirrorverse the same way Barry can enter the speed force?" Iris asked, since while she hated the man, she couldn't deny that he knew his science.</p><p>Thawne looked at her considering.</p><p>"It's possible, but for now at least, I would caution you not to stay in there for more than an hour, since that's how long it took us to get you out of there the first time. Not to mention, the mirrorverse is still an aspect of science that we don't understand yet and the only person who has studied it is currently presumed deceased." Thawne said.</p><p>"Who?" Iris asked.</p><p>"Eva McCulloch, she died the night of the particle accelerator explosion. However, from what I've read of her research, the Mirrorverse isn't exactly compatible with biological material from this universe. It's a miracle you were able to get in and out without any outside intervention." Thawne said.</p><p>"So what you're saying is that until we understand this mirrorverse better, try to avoid going into it." Iris said.</p><p>"Exactly. Besides, I see no reason why you can't just travel through mirrors without going into the mirrorverse, you just need to learn how to limit your transportation to instantly travel from one mirror to another, since this could allow you to essentially travel anywhere in the city and maybe the world at a speed that could rival Barry's." Thawne said and Iris nodded.</p><p>"So, how do we do that?" Iris asked.</p><p>"We'll figure it out. But until we do, Cisco, do not make her a suit until we've got a better idea of how her powers work." Thawne said and Cisco nodded, since he knew that Barry and Joe would kill him if he made Iris a suit before they knew the extent of her powers.</p><p>"Got it. Besides, I never make a suit before I give someone their meta name." Cisco said and Iris rolled her eyes, though secretly, she was very excited that she was finally getting her own superhero name.</p><p>Later on that week, Barry was preparing a nice dinner for Iris, since he knew how hard she'd been training, though he didn't understand why. None of the others had pushed themselves as hard as she was. Not him, not Cisco, not Caitlin and Frost, not Ralph, none of them.</p><p>He was hoping that this dinner would help her calm down and it was also where he was planning on popping the question to her.</p><p>He'd just finished the last touches on the dinner before he heard someone knock on the door of his loft and he smiled as he moved to open it, he found Iris wearing a beautiful sleeveless, strapless, knee length dress waiting for him.</p><p>"Kind of slow huh Flash?" Iris asked with a smile.</p><p>"Very funny. Come on in." Barry said as he showed Iris in.</p><p>"Wow, this place has not changed a bit." Iris said, since it was the same loft they'd shared in the old earth.</p><p>"Yep." Barry said as he led her to the table and sat her down.</p><p>"Okay, not that I'm complaining, but what's the occasion?" Iris asked.</p><p>"I saw how hard you were training and I thought you could use a nice dinner." Barry said and Iris smiled.</p><p>"Well thank you." Iris said as Barry filled her glass with red wine.</p><p>"Why don't you tell me what's going on with you." Barry said.</p><p>"What do you mean?" Iris asked.</p><p>"Iris, I've seen how hard you're pushing yourself in training. It seems like you're trying to learn how to do everything at once, which is not a good idea. I never did that, neither did Cisco, Caitlin or Ralph. So tell me, what's going on?" Barry asked and Iris sighed.</p><p>"Look, I was always the one who had to sit out behind the computers while the rest of you fought in the field and even though now I have powers, the rest of you are way ahead of me. I'm just trying to catch up." Iris said.</p><p>"Iris, it's not a race. The reason we're all so good with our powers is because we took the time to learn how to use them correctly. You'll get there yourself soon, but only if you take the time to learn them right. It's the same thing I told Nora when I first started training her. You can't skip rungs on the ladder, you have to do things the right way." Barry said and Iris nodded.</p><p>"I know that, but I wanted to prove that I am ready to get in the field." Iris said and Barry sighed.</p><p>"You'll be out there soon enough. I haven't even made my debut as the flash yet. And you won't be any good to anyone if you try to rush through your training." Barry said and Iris sighed.</p><p>"I promise I'll slow down a bit." Iris said and Barry smiled.</p><p>"Great, now let's eat. No one knows better than me how hungry training can make you." Barry said and Iris nodded as he brought food over the table and Iris smiled as they ate.</p><p>After they'd eaten dinner and dessert, Barry smiled, since now was the time he'd been planning for as he turned on the music and Iris immediately recognized the song and smiled and put her hand on Barry's to stop him.</p><p>"Barry, stop." Iris said and Barry looked at her worried.</p><p>"Yes." Iris said as Barry turned off the music.</p><p>"Yes?" Barry asked.</p><p>"I knew what you were doing the moment you turned on the music. Seemed a bit unnecessary considering you already knew what my answer would be." Iris said with a smile, which Barry shared.</p><p>"Will let me ask you anyways?" Barry asked and Iris nodded as Barry turned the music back on and sang running home to you to her again as he got down on one knee.</p><p>"Even though you've already given me your answer, I still feel like I need to ask you. Iris Anne West, will you marry me?" Barry asked and Iris smiled and nodded.</p><p>"Yes. I will marry you. But let's hope that Nazis don't crash our wedding this time." Iris said with a smile as Barry placed the ring on her finger and then kissed her.</p><p>However, they were forced to break apart sooner than either of them wanted to when Barry got a call from Cisco.</p><p>"What is it Cisco?" Barry asked.</p><p>"Barry, you need to look out the window. There's a huge storm encompassing all over Central City and it literally formed out of nowhere." Cisco said.</p><p>"Mardon." Barry said.</p><p>"Yep. We're still working on locating him, but now might be a good time for the Flash to make his debut to help protect the city while Thawne works on locating him. Frost and I are suiting up now." Cisco said.</p><p>"I'm on it." Barry said as he hung up and looked at Iris.</p><p>"Time for the Flash to save the day again?" Iris asked.</p><p>"Yep. Mardon is up to his old tricks." Barry said.</p><p>"You go. I'll head to Star Labs, see if I can help track him." Iris said and Barry nodded as he slid the ring Cisco had made him onto his hand and charged it with speed force energy before watching it shoot out his suit and he sped into it and out of the loft and into Central city. The Flash was officially back.</p>
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<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Chapter 13</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Dr. Wells, do you have any ideas on where whatever is causing this storm is?" Barry asked over his comms.</p><p>"Best our satellite can find is somewhere at the docks." Thawne said.</p><p>"Huh, that's different." Barry mumbled to himself as he ran towards the docks.</p><p>"Cisco and Frost will meet you there." Thawne said.</p><p>"Copy." Flash said as he sped towards the docks and as he arrived, he realized why it was so hard for the satellites to get an exact location on Mardon. The whole area was covered in a fog.</p><p>"Cisco, Frost, I'm here. Where are you guys?" Flash asked, right as he heard a breach open up and Vibe and Frost jumped out of it.</p><p>"Right here. But with this fog, it's hard to tell where anyone else is." Vibe said, since none of them could tell where their opponent was.</p><p>"I think I know a way to help with that." Thawne said over the comms.</p><p>"What do you mean?" Flash asked.</p><p>"Barry, if you create a funnel while you run, it should." Thawne said.</p><p>"Clear the fog. I'm on it." Flash said as he sped off and ran around the docks fast enough to dispel the fog, but not fast enough to tip Thawne off. He'd wait until he and Thawne locked horns to reveal his increase in speed.</p><p>Sure enough, the fog quickly faded as the Flash came to a stop next to his teammates.</p><p>"Okay, now the fog is clear, but I still can't see our target." Vibe said.</p><p>"Maybe you're just not looking in the right place." A new and familiar voice said to them, though they were surprised by who it was.</p><p>"And you are?" Vibe asked, even though all three of them knew who it was.</p><p>"Call me, Weather Witch." Joss Jackham said and to their shock, she held up her hands and summoned lightning to both of them.</p><p>"Seriously." Vibe complained.</p><p>"Scatter." Flash shouted as the three of them jumped out of the way right before Joss blasted lightning at them.</p><p>"I thought she needed her staff to do any of this?" Frost said.</p><p>"New Earth, new possibilities. I guess she really is the apple of her father's eye." Vibe groaned.</p><p>"You two need to clear any civilians left around here. I'll deal with her." Flash said and Frost and Vibe both nodded as Flash turned back towards Weather Witch.</p><p>"Dr. Wells, any suggestions on how to stop someone who can control the weather?" Flash asked.</p><p>"Use the fact that she seems to prefer lightning to your advantage." Thawne said.</p><p>"What do you mean?" Flash asked, though he was pretty sure he had an idea.</p><p>"Use your lightning as a magnet to attract her's to you. Turn her lightning from a problem into a fuel source." Thawne said.</p><p>"Got it." Flash said as he began running around Joss.</p><p>"You really think running will save you?" Joss asked as she continued to try to throw lightning at Flash, but to her surprise, not only was this guy faster than lightning, but he seemed to be feeding off her attacks. However, before she could switch weather tactics, the Flash sped right up to her and lightning punched her, sending her flying backwards and knocking her unconscious, right as the CCPD arrived, with Joe leading them, a pair of meta cuffs in his hands.</p><p>"Evening officers." Flash said and Joe had to stop himself from laughing at the Flash's casualness about this whole thing.</p><p>"Who are you?" Joe asked, even though he already knew.</p><p>"I'm the Flash. And this woman is responsible for the chaos that happened tonight. She's a meta with the ability to control the weather." Flash said, grateful that thanks to Superman already existing on this earth, metas were already a bit of a common occurrence in the world now, since several of Superman's enemies had found ways to give themselves powers to try and level the playing field against the man of steel.</p><p>"I figured there was a meta here, that's why I came prepared." Joe said as he locked the cuffs on Joss's wrists.</p><p>"Take her into custody." Joe said as the other cops nodded as they took Joss into custody.</p><p>"Guess it's time for me to go." Flash said as he heard Vibe and Frost breach out and he then proceeded to speed away with Joe watching him speed away.</p><p>"Welcome back Flash." Joe said.</p><p>As Barry ran back towards the Star Labs, he couldn't help but feel a bit guilty about keeping Jesse out of the loop. Sure she hadn't existed on the old earth, but she looked exactly like Jesse Wells. That had to mean that her mind was able to be restored with Jesse Wells memories.</p><p>He knew that the speed force had warned him not to, but honestly, Barry had enough secrets in his life already, he didn't want to have to keep any from his own sister. Especially since she was the only member of the team out of the loop. It didn't seem fair to her and if Jesse did find out, it would likely only break trust between her and the team. He'd seen the effects keeping secrets had had on Oliver's team and that was a small and relatively necessary secret, but a secret like this, could end up turning Jesse from his sister into his enemy. And he had no intention of doing that.</p><p>So, once he figured out how to do it without J'onn's aid, he would give his sister the memories of the old universe. Even if they weren't her memories exactly.</p>
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<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Chapter 14</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Cisco, what exactly are you working on?" Caitlin asked her boyfriend as she entered his workshop.</p><p>"Something to help us against Thawne." Cisco said as Caitlin saw what he was working on.</p><p>"A speed force bazooka?" Caitlin asked.</p><p>"I figured if it can send Savitar into the speed force, we should be able to do the same thing with Thawne, but I was wrong." Cisco said.</p><p>"What do you mean?" Caitlin asked.</p><p>"Even if I could build the bazooka, which I can't, since I'm not Tracy Brand, but it won't work, since the bazooka works by harnessing the target's connection to the speed force, but for one thing, the original speed force doesn't even exist anymore and I'm not sure if this thing would be compatible with the new speed force and Thawne doesn't even draw his speed from the speed force." Cisco said.</p><p>"So, why not just turn Thawne's own speed force against him. I mean, you turned the original speed force bazooka into a speed force skeleton key and you know about the negative speed force, so why not just tune it to the negative speed force." Caitlin said.</p><p>"I don't know how to. I barely understand how the bazooka works." Cisco said.</p><p>"Maybe Jesse could help. She's studying extra dimensional energies and the speed force. She helped create the new speed force, I'm sure she can help build the bazooka and modify it." Caitlin suggested, since she could see</p><p>"Really. And how exactly do I explain to her why I'm building it or how I know what the negative speed force is?" Cisco asked as he continued working.</p><p>"Cisco, we have some time. You don't have to work so hard on this. Especially when you have a girlfriend who is tired of having to spend every night alone." Caitlin added as she wrapped her arms around his neck and Cisco sighed.</p><p>"I know I've been neglecting you and Frost lately and I am sorry about that. It's just, we finally have the upperhand on Thawne. For the first time ever, we are a step ahead of him. We know his plans, we know every move he plans on making. But we don't have any place to put him once we catch him, since it took strapping Cicada's dagger in the future to Thawne to dampen his speed to keep him trapped in Iron Heights and Barry refuses to kill him. I just, I don't know where else to put him after we catch him except in a speed force prison, but his being a part of the negative speed force would most likely protect him from the bazooka's effects." Cisco said.</p><p>"So, maybe we should work the problem together. After all, two heads are better than one." Caitlin said.</p><p>'And three are even better' Frost said in her mind.</p><p>"Yes, but let's face it Frost, you're more the brawn in this operation than the brains." Caitlin said and immediately regretted it when Frost went silent.</p><p>"Yeah, I think you should figure things out with Frost first, since maybe you should consider letting her take the driver's wheel again?" Cisco asked.</p><p>"I already talked to her about that and she agreed to wait until after we defeat Thawne for that, since I still plan on letting her build a life of her own, so to speak, but right now, it would rouse too much suspicion with Thawne, since something tells me that he might try tracking Frost if he suspects that she takes control from time to time." Caitlin said, since she honestly wished she could let Frost take the wheel now, since she'd felt guilty for waiting so long to do it before, but for now, Frost had to stay in her cage, no matter how much neither of them liked it.</p><p>"Still, I think you hurt her feelings with that remark, since I don't need to be a mind reader to know that she's icing you out." Cisco said with a smile and Caitlin rolled her eyes.</p><p>"Seriously, that was the best you could come up with? I think you lost your touch a bit." Caitlin said.</p><p>"Oh please, that was solid." Cisco said as Barry entered.</p><p>"Okay, please tell me I am not walking in a lover's dispute? Because if so, I think we may need to put you on separate floors." Barry said with a slight smile.</p><p>"Oh ha, ha." Caitlin said as Barry chuckled.</p><p>"Look I'm sorry, but honestly, I'm glad you two finally got your heads in the game and realized you liked each other. You know Joe, Iris, Cecille, Ralph, Harry, Sherloque and I all had a wager on when you guys would start making out?" Barry asked.</p><p>"Seriously?" Cisco asked, incredulously.</p><p>"Oh yeah. It was obvious to all of us, since honestly, you two were just as close as Iris and I were before we started dating or even before I got my powers." Barry said.</p><p>"Is there something we can help you with Barry?" Caitlin asked as she heard Frost laugh in her head at that and saying how she wished she'd had a piece of that action.</p><p>"Actually two, things. First, Iris and I are engaged again, since in this universe, we've been dating since high school. Hopefully this time, our wedding will go by a bit more smoothly." Barry said.</p><p>"Well, since I haven't been able to detect any other earths yet, you shouldn't have to worry about that. Congrats man." Cisco said as he and Barry high fived.</p><p>"Cisco, I wanted to ask you to be my best man again." Barry said.</p><p>"Of course." Cisco said.</p><p>"I'm assuming Iris is going to ask me to be a bridesmaid, since I'm assuming Jesse will be the maid of honor?" Caitlin asked.</p><p>"Yeah. Jesse was very excited when we told her. Iris is still working on tracking down Wally, but he will be a groomsman and so will Oliver and Ralph." Barry said.</p><p>"What about Iris's bridesmaid?" Caitlin asked.</p><p>"You'll have to ask her about that." Barry said.</p><p>"Okay, any other reason you came by?" Cisco asked.</p><p>"I was wondering if you had any ideas on how to technologically recreate J'onn's psychic powers." Barry said.</p><p>"Maybe, but why?" Cisco asked.</p><p>"I want to restore Jesse's memories." Barry said, causing both of them to look at him like he was crazy.</p><p>"Barry, are you sure? We don't even know if Jesse's mind can be restored, since technically, she didn't have a doppelganger." Cisco said.</p><p>"On earth one. But she looks exactly like Jesse Wells, she even has the same powers. New earth means new possibilities. Besides, how will we know if we don't try. It's not fair to Jesse if she's the only one out of the loop." Barry said and they nodded at that.</p><p>"I guess we can find out if it's possible." Cisco said.</p><p>"Good. Because if Jesse knows how to use her powers already, that gives us one more highly trained meta against Thawne." Barry said and they could both see the wisdom in that, since right now, Jesse and Iris were the only ones who didn't know how to use their powers. But if they could give Jesse Allen the memories of Jesse Wells, then the only one who wouldn't know how to use their powers is Iris and that's only because she never had powers before and hopefully she'd learn to control them by the time Thawne made his first appearance at Christmas.</p>
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<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Chapter 15</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Barry returned to Central City, he found Iris waiting for him at their loft.</p><p>"Okay, so now are you going to tell me why you had to rush to Star City?" Iris asked him as Barry brought her up to speed.</p><p>"So what you're saying is that Kara is getting the scoop of the century and I got completely skipped over." Iris said and Barry rolled his eyes at that, since he should've known that was what Iris would focus on.</p><p>"To be fair Iris, Kara is the one in charge of Danvers Daily News, which means that she could've taken over this story from you anyways." Barry said.</p><p>"I know, but still." Iris said.</p><p>"Anyways, I'm going to go talk to Cecile, see if she can help arrange a transfer for the metas Black Lightning rescued from the ASA facility." Barry said.</p><p>"How's Caitlin doing in Star City?" Iris asked.</p><p>"She's talking to Jefferson's ex wife about working on a cure for Thea and other metas with her issue." Barry said.</p><p>"Remind me again about why we're not bringing Thawne in on that project?" Iris asked, since while Thawne was a bastard, he was smart.</p><p>"How exactly would we explain knowing the Green Arrow, Supergirl and Black Lightning? Plus, Caitlin is using research from when they created the metahuman cure and Thawne can't know about that yet." Barry said and Iris nodded.</p><p>"Why don't we just use the cure on him? No powers means that if he's erased from the timeline, he stays erased." Iris said.</p><p>"Because we can't exactly develop it without Thawne noticing something is up, especially since I'd have to disappear into the speed force for an hour." Barry reminded her.</p><p>"Fair point." Iris said.</p><p>"Anyways, I'm going to go talk to Cecile. Thank god I asked J'onn to restore her memories." Barry said as he walked out of the apartment.</p><p>"Cecille." Barry said as he entered her office and Cecile smiled at him.</p><p>"Barry, I was wondering when one of you would finally pay me a visit." Cecile said with a smile as she got up and hugged him.</p><p>"I was kind of surprised to learn that you're still the DA, but I'm glad you are." Barry said.</p><p>"Really, why's that?" Cecile asked as Barry brought her up to speed.</p><p>"So, you want me to basically set up the same thing I did for the metas Cicada was targeting." Cecile said.</p><p>"Yeah." Barry confirmed.</p><p>"I'll see what I can do, but considering that we also need to keep this secret from this ASA, it might take awhile to get everything worked out. You should talk to Argus or the DEO about helping with the transfer as well." Cecile said and Barry nodded, since that made sense.</p><p>"By the way, you should consider becoming a meta defense attorney soon. This city needs that more than it needs the DA." Barry said and Cecile nodded.</p><p>"Now, I need to get going." Barry said and Cecile nodded as he sped out of her office.</p><p>Cisco smiled, since he'd just finished a prototype memory ring, which had not been easy, especially without Thawne noticing, but now he had and while his simulations showed success, now it was time to test it. And if it worked on his planned test subject, then he knew it would work on anyone.</p><p>"Hey Jesse, can I talk to you for a minute?" Cisco asked as he saw her pass his workshop.</p><p>"Yeah sure." Jesse said as she entered his lab.</p><p>"Okay, now hold still." Cisco said as he took a deep breath and hoped this worked and before Jesse could do anything, Cisco tapped the memory ring against her arm.</p><p>Jesse's eyes immediately rolled into her head as she passed out.</p><p>Cisco silently prayed that he hadn't killed her as he checked her vitals and was relieved to find that she was just unconscious, her speed healing hadn't even needed to kick in as she woke up.</p><p>"What the hell Cisco?" Jesse asked as she got up.</p><p>"Sorry Jesse, but I needed to see if my new invention worked and you're the only one here I can test it on." Cisco said as he offered her his hand and helped her up.</p><p>"Yeah well, at least now I know how to use my speed again." Jesse said as she was grateful for her speed healing curing her headache.</p><p>"So you remember?" Cisco asked.</p><p>"Yep. I remember my world being destroyed by a wave of antimatter. My friends, my father." Jesse said.</p><p>"But you also remember your life on this earth right?" Cisco asked.</p><p>"Yeah. Can't believe that Barry and I are siblings on this earth, but I guess I'll get used to it since he has." Jesse asked.</p><p>"Are you okay?" Cisco asked.</p><p>"It's going to take me some time to get used to the fact that my last name is Allen and not Wells, but I'll adjust. Especially since now I can be a bit more help in bringing down the man who apparently killed my mother." Jesse said.</p><p>"Yeah, I think I'm going to call your brother." Cisco said and to his surprise, Jesse just nodded.</p><p>"I see you're adjusting fast." Cisco said.</p><p>"Being a speedster helps with that." Jesse said and Cisco nodded as he pulled out his phone and called Barry.</p>
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<a name="section0016"><h2>16. Chapter 16</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Barry arrived at Star Labs, he found Cisco and Jesse speaking in Cisco's workshop.</p><p>"Hey Jesse." Barry said as he approached her cautiously.</p><p>"Hey Bro. So, I'm still going to be the maid of honor at your wedding right?" Jesse asked and Barry laughed as she smiled at him.</p><p>"You'll have to talk to Iris about that one. How are you adjusting to all this?" Barry asked.</p><p>"I'm freaking out on the inside, but at the same time, I'm glad that I still have a family to help me through this." Jesse said and Barry nodded.</p><p>"I always sort of thought of you as a little sister Jesse, especially after you got your powers, so I guess it makes sense about why you actually are my sister in this reality." Barry said.</p><p>"It also means that you can't date Wally in this reality." Cisco said.</p><p>"Wally and I broke up way before Crisis happened and honestly, I'm glad, since don't get me wrong, he's a great guy, but I just don't think that we were meant to be. Who knows, maybe I'll find Mr. Right here on this earth." Jesse said.</p><p>"If you do, let me know when you tell them about your powers, so that I can threaten to put my hand through their heart if they hurt you." Barry said and Jesse rolled her eyes.</p><p>"Cisco, there's actually something I wanted to talk to you about." Barry said.</p><p>"What?" Cisco asked.</p><p>"I know that you're in the middle of helping build the Arrow bunker, but when you're done, I think we should set up a secondary base outside of Star Labs, one that Thawne doesn't know about so that the real Team Flash can meet up without worrying about him being onto us." Barry said and Cisco nodded.</p><p>"Not a bad idea. There are a few other defunct Star Labs facilities in Central City. We could check them out, see if any of them are an ideal location for a base." Cisco said and Barry nodded.</p><p>"Good idea." Barry said, right as Dr. Wells came over the comms.</p><p>"All hands to the cortex now." Thawne said.</p><p>"Let's go see what this is about." Barry said as the three of them head to the cortex.</p><p>"What's going on?" Jesse asked as they entered the Cortex and Thawne brought up a news report.</p><p>"This man, Quentin Quale, was attacked and badly burned by the supposed burning man." Thawne said as Barry, Cisco and Jesse exchanged looks.</p><p>"I know Iris has been looking into rumors about him, but she could never get any confirmation." Barry said, honestly relieved to learn that Stein was alive.</p><p>"Do we have any images of what this burning man looks like and no, that is not my attempt to name him." Cisco said.</p><p>"Maybe if we take Cisco to the place of the crime, he could vibe what happened." Jesse suggested.</p><p>"My thoughts exactly Ms. Allen. If we can figure out who this burning man is, then we can figure out how to fight them." Thawne said.</p><p>"Where did the attack happen?" Cisco asked.</p><p>"Outside Concordance Research." Thawne said.</p><p>"Then that's where we go next. I'll call Caitlin, tell her to get back here." Barry said.</p><p>"It's a shame that she'll have to cut her visit with her mother short, but then again, considering the way those two act around each other, maybe it's a good thing." Thawne said, since that was the cover they'd given Thawne for Caitlin's absence.</p><p>When they arrived at the attack site, Barry and Jesse stood guard of the area while Cisco knelt down and placed his hand on ground and instantly went into vibe mode of the crime.</p><p>He saw Quentin Quale being approached by a shadowy figure, who tried to speak with him, but Quale didn't recognize him. When the figure's hands ignited in flames, Cisco was surprised by who it was who attacked Quale before he exited the vibe.</p><p>"Well, did you see it?" Barry asked.</p><p>"Yeah, but it wasn't Ronnie who'd merged with Stein this time. It was Jax." Cisco said.</p><p>"Wait what? How is that possible?" Jesse asked.</p><p>"I don't know, but I guess it makes sense that Ronnie wasn't the one Stein merged with, considering that he wasn't even in Central City during the explosion and Stein's particles and the firestorm matrix had to combine with someone." Cisco said.</p><p>"And Firestorm did become more powerful after Jax merged with Stein, so I guess it makes sense that the two of them would merge." Barry said.</p><p>"So, what's the plan?" Jesse asked, since Stein had been one of her professors at Hudson before he disappeared and he'd been one of her favorites, since he was one of the few who actually humored her theories instead of just rejecting them.</p><p>"I've developed a quantum splicer that should allow Jax and Stein to separate." Cisco said.</p><p>"How do we explain to Thawne why you have a quantum splicer?" Barry asked.</p><p>"Actually, it's something that I was working on even before the explosion, so he won't question its existence." Cisco said.</p><p>"Great, then let's go save Firestorm." Barry said.</p>
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<a name="section0017"><h2>17. Chapter 17</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Why haven't you returned to Star Labs yet?" Thawne asked over the comms, since the three of them had decided to just go to where they knew Firestorm was likely hiding.</p><p>"Cisco vibed this burning man's location. We're heading there to check it out." Barry said.</p><p>"I wouldn't recommend that considering what Caitlin and I have just discovered about the burning man." Thawne said.</p><p>"Okay, we're on our way back." Barry said as Cisco looked around before opening a breach back to Star labs, which the three of them went through it back to Star Labs.</p><p>"Hey, welcome back." Cisco said as he quickly kissed his girlfriend hello.</p><p>"Okay, so what did you discover?" Barry asked.</p><p>"This is footage from outside Star Labs at the time of the explosion." Caitlin said as she pulled up an image of a familiar face.</p><p>"Who is that?" Barry asked.</p><p>"That's Professor Stein." Jesse said and Thawne nodded.</p><p>"And the item he is holding is called the Firestorm matrix. Now, watch what happens when the dark matter wave hits him." Thawne said as they watched the wave of energy wash over Stein, but they noticed another face in the wave.</p><p>"Is that the face of the burning man?" Jesse asked.</p><p>"It wasn't easy, but we managed to get a facial ID. Jefferson Jackson. It looks as though the dark matter wave fused them and the firestorm matrix together." Caitlin said.</p><p>"And I believe that this may shed a new light on the attack victim." Thawne said.</p><p>"What do you mean?" Jesse asked.</p><p>"Quentin Quale is an old colleague of Martin Stein. It appears that while Jefferson's body is the one in play, Stein's mind is the one in control of this body." Thawne said.</p><p>"Simple darwinism, survival of the fittest." Barry said and Thawne nodded.</p><p>"However, I get the feeling that the two of them can't remain that way for much longer without something bad happening." Cisco said and Thawne nodded.</p><p>"I did some research on the firestorm matrix and I believe that the matrix will become unstable if it remains in its current state, it will build until it discharges." Thawne said.</p><p>"So we need to find a way to separate them." Jesse said.</p><p>"I might have something that can work." Cisco said.</p><p>"Your quantum splicer." Thawne said and Cisco nodded.</p><p>"It should bombard the organism's cells with enough energy to cause them to separate back into two individual people and negate the effects." Cisco said.</p><p>"Go get it. Caitlin, something tells me that you might need to prepare something to help them focus, since they're likely mentally unstable in this form." Thawne said.</p><p>"I'm sure I can whip something up." Caitlin agreed as she headed to her own lab to start working on that very thing.</p><p>It was decided that all four of them would go bring in Firestorm, which was why they were walking under the same bridge Firestorm had hid out in last time.</p><p>"Professor Stein. Are you here?" Jesse called out as they heard a noise to the left and saw Jax, looking much more rugged than they'd ever seen him before, approach them.</p><p>"Ms. Allen. You recognize me?" Firestorm asked and Jesse nodded.</p><p>"I do. And my friends and I, we think we can help you if you'll let us." Jesse said as Caitlin handed her the syringe with mental stability serum she'd whipped up and Jesse cautiously approached Firestorm.</p><p>"How?" Firestorm asked.</p><p>"First, we can help you calm down with this." Jesse said as she used her speed to quickly inject Firestorm with the serum and right as he flared up, Caitlin switched to Frost and cooled him down.</p><p>"Sorry about that Professor, but can't you think more clearly now?" Jesse asked.</p><p>"Yes, I can." Firestorm said.</p><p>"Professor Stein, my name is Cisco Ramon and I believe that this should be able to split you and Jefferson Jackson apart." Cisco said as he pulled out the quantum splicer.</p><p>"What is that?" Firestorm asked.</p><p>"It's a quantum splicer. It should theoretically allow you two to separate." Cisco said and Firestorm nodded.</p><p>"But, we should probably get you to a safe distance from the city before we activate it." Barry said and Firestorm nodded again.</p><p>"One step ahead of you." Cisco said as he opened the breach.</p><p>"What is that?" Firestorm asked.</p><p>"It's called a breach and it's the fastest way we can get you back to your old self." Barry said and Firestorm just nodded as he followed Jesse through it, since he figured if his student trusted them, then he could as well.</p><p>"Okay there, we should be safe now." Barry said as Cisco attached the splicer to Firestorm.</p><p>"What now?" Firestorm asked.</p><p>"Now the splicer should cause the matrix in you to expel enough energy to force you both to separate." Cisco said.</p><p>"And we should probably back up." Barry said as they saw the energy start to build.</p><p>"Good luck professor." Jesse said as they breached away as Firestorm blew up.</p>
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<a name="section0018"><h2>18. Chapter 18</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When the breach reopened and Barry, Jesse, Cisco and Caitlin jumped back to the site of the explosion and all of them smiled at the sight of Jefferson Jackson and Martin Stein, the latter of whom was once again alive, both lying on the ground, unconscious.</p><p>"Well, the fact that they're both still unconscious will make this a lot easier and less painful. Unless of course the pain wakes them up." Cisco said as he handed Barry the memory ring, which Barry tapped to each of their arms, waking them up.</p><p>"What the hell just happened?" Jax asked as he gripped his head.</p><p>"Believe me Jefferson, I am just as curious about that as you are." Stein said as Jax turned to face him.</p><p>"Wait Grey, you're alive?" Jax asked with joy at the sight of him.</p><p>"Yes, it appears I am. But how?" Stein asked.</p><p>"I think we can fill in the blanks." Barry said.</p><p>"Mr. Allen, Mr. Ramon, Dr. Snow and Ms. Allen." Stein said.</p><p>"So you still recognize me?" Jesse asked.</p><p>"Of course, what makes you think I'd forget one of my favorite students." Stein said.</p><p>"Okay, we have a lot to catch you up on." Barry said and Stein and Jax both nodded as Barry brought them up to speed.</p><p>"So, that's what it was like for you and Ronnie the first time you merged?" Jax asked Stein.</p><p>"Indeed. And no offense to you Jefferson, but it was just as unpleasant as the last time." Stein said.</p><p>"None taken, it was no picnic for me either. However, I am glad to have you back Grey." Jax said as he hugged Stein, who hugged him back as well.</p><p>"Anyways, we should head back to Star Labs before Thawne gets suspicious and remember, do not do anything to tip him off to the fact that we're onto him." Barry said.</p><p>"I'm curious as to why you haven't just taken him down." Stein said.</p><p>"I have to wait until he makes his appearance as the Reverse Flash, since right now, the world thinks he's Harrison Wells and a paraplegic. Not exactly good for the public image if the Flash attacks a helpless man who's paralyzed." Barry said.</p><p>"As much as I'd love to continue this conversation now, we need to get back before Thawne realizes some thing's up." Cisco said as he opened up the breach and all of them walked through it.</p><p>"Professor Stein, Mr. Jackson, welcome." Thawne said.</p><p>"Dr. Wells. It is a privilege to meet you." Stein said, lying to him flawlessly.</p><p>"Really, you're one of the few in this city who share that regard." Thawne said.</p><p>"Look, this is all well and good, but my mom probably thinks I'm dead and I'd like to see her." Jax said.</p><p>"And I'd like to see my wife and daughter." Stein added.</p><p>"We can bring them here." Barry said.</p><p>"I don't think so. I don't mind these two learning about our operations, but I would prefer to keep civilians out of it." Thawne said.</p><p>"Okay so, we'll take them to CCPD, since they both have missing person reports filed, so they can be reunited with their families tonight and then come back here tomorrow for more extensive testing." Barry said and Thawne nodded.</p><p>"Agreed." Thawne said.</p><p>"I do have one question. Quentin Quale, is he alright?" Stein asked.</p><p>"He has some pretty bad burns, but he'll be fine and fortunately, he was unable to recognize you Mr. Jackson." Thawne said and Jax nodded in relief.</p><p>After he dropped Jax and Stein off at CCPD as the Flash, Barry walked into the precinct as himself and he was surprised to find Iris there.</p><p>"Iris, what brings you here?" Barry asked his fiance.</p><p>"My dad called me and asked me to meet him here. He didn't say why." Iris said as she kissed him real quickly as her dad approached them.</p><p>"I didn't want to mention it over the phone where anyone can overhear. Both of you come with me." Joe said as he led Iris and Barry up to Barry's lab.</p><p>"Okay Joe, what's going on?" Barry asked.</p><p>"Sorry, but this is one of the only places in the city that Thawne can't listen in on." Joe said.</p><p>"Okay, so what's the big deal?" Iris asked.</p><p>"Last night, Esperanza Garcia was removed from Iron Heights by an unknown organization under the cover of medical reasons and was officially declared deceased. Only reason I know the truth is because I had Cisco give me more exclusive eyes on the prison for this exact reason." Joe said.</p><p>"Wow, you've come a long way since we first started this." Barry said, since the old Joe would never have even dreamed of doing something like that.</p><p>"Things change and I've adapted. Sometimes keeping people safe is more important than just following the law." Joe said.</p><p>"Okay so, what about Allegra?" Iris asked of the good member of that family.</p><p>"She's still in Iron Heights." Joe said.</p><p>"And Iron Heights still has their work release program correct?" Iris asked.</p><p>"Yeah why?" Joe asked.</p><p>"I still need to talk to Kara about it, since she's the big boss, but I want to offer that to Allegra, an opportunity to work for Danvers Daily News. Plus that would get us another asset to use against Thawne if we restore her memories." Iris said.</p><p>"You get Kara's approval for it, since like you said, she does have to approve a move like this before we can consider it, but if she does, I will see if I can pull it off." Joe said and Iris nodded.</p><p>"Thanks dad. In the meantime, I'm going to start looking into this organization again. I'll see you at home." Iris said to Barry as she kissed him before heading out.</p><p>"Guess I should tell Cisco to start working on a name and suit for Allegra." Barry said.</p><p>"I am honestly surprised he never did before." Joe said.</p><p>"You and me both. Now, is there anything else you need?" Barry asked.</p><p>"Not sure yet. But maybe we should consider bringing Singh into the fold." Joe said.</p><p>"I'll think about it." Barry agreed as Joe then walked out of his lab as well.</p>
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<a name="section0019"><h2>19. Chapter 19</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Hey Captain, can I talk to you for a minute?" Barry asked Singh when he entered the precinct the following day, since the team had voted and agreed to bring Singh into the fold.</p><p>"Yeah sure." Singh said as he led Barry into his office.</p><p>"Thanks. Now I have to warn you this will hurt a bit." Barry said and before Singh could ask what he meant, Barry pressed the memory ring up against Singh's arm and then he understood as he saw his life flash before his eyes. Or more specifically, his pre-crisis life flash before his eyes.</p><p>"What the hell was that Allen? Or should I say, Flash?" Singh asked as he looked at the speedster.</p><p>"Sorry about the pain Captain, but it was necessary, since I was restoring your memories of the way the world was before the crisis." Barry said.</p><p>"So that's why I know that your dad is innocent and I feel guilty for ever doubting you." Singh said.</p><p>"Yeah. I'll accept your apology later. Right now, I need a favor." Barry said.</p><p>"What is it?" Singh asked.</p><p>"Allegra Garcia. Iris pulled some strings to get her a job at Danvers Daily News." Barry said, only to have Singh interrupt him.</p><p>"Danvers Daily News?" Singh asked, since while the name sounded slightly familiar, he didn't know what it was.</p><p>"It's a new national media outlet that a friend of ours founded and offered Iris a job running the Central City office." Barry said.</p><p>"And you trust this friend?" Singh asked.</p><p>"Kara Danvers is one of my closest friends. Both as Barry Allen and as the Flash." Barry said.</p><p>"What city does she live in?" Singh asked as he started to put the pieces together.</p><p>"National City." Barry said.</p><p>"She's Supergirl isn't she?" Singh asked and Barry nodded.</p><p>"I trust you'll keep her secret." Barry said.</p><p>"Just as I keep yours and how I intend to keep Mr. Queen's identity as the Green Arrow a secret as well, as long as he does this time." Singh said, surprising Barry. Not that Singh knew that Oliver was the Green Arrow, since everyone who remembered the old earth knew that, but that Singh was willing to keep it a secret.</p><p>"Really, I thought that you'd be thinking along the lines of the SCPD." Barry said.</p><p>"Look, I'll admit, when he first came on the scene, I had my concerns about him, but he's proven himself a hero in his own way. Plus, he's one of the few people who's able to deal with people like you and Supergirl if you get mind controlled." Singh said.</p><p>"I trust Oliver with my life." Barry said.</p><p>"And I'm willing to trust your judgement, as long as he doesn't become a threat to this city." Singh said and Barry nodded.</p><p>"You're much more understanding of him than Joe was." Barry said.</p><p>"Wait, Joe knew too?" Singh asked.</p><p>"Yep. But anyways, back to Allegra." Barry said.</p><p>"Right, what exactly did you want regarding her?" Singh asked.</p><p>"She's eligible for Iron Height's work release program right?" Barry asked and Singh nodded.</p><p>"Though since she's still technically considered a minor, since she's 17, she'll need a legal guardian, but anyways, why do you want to know that?" Singh asked.</p><p>"As I was saying, Kara has approved letting Iris offer Allegra a job at Danvers Daily News, since she was a reporter working for Iris before, no reason she can't be again, since we're also going to be restoring her memories as well." Barry said.</p><p>"If you can find a legal guardian for her, since as far as our records tell, the only known family she has is her cousin Esperanza and we both know how that turned out." Singh said.</p><p>"I'll let Iris know, see if we can figure something out. Thank you captain." Barry said.</p><p>"No problem Flash. Tell Joe I want to work with him on your dad's case, since now that I know that your dad is innocent, I intend on helping to get him out of prison." Singh said and Barry nodded at him gratefully.</p><p>"Thank you Captain. I'll let him know and I think that he and Cecile are working on this already." Barry said and Singh nodded.</p><p>"I look forward to working with you again. How about I come over to your place tonight so you can fully bring me up to speed on everything else." Singh said and Barry nodded.</p><p>"Until then Captain." Barry said as he walked out of Singh's office.</p>
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<a name="section0020"><h2>20. Chapter 20</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"So what you're saying is that in order for a judge to agree to let Allegra out on probation is if she has a legal guardian?" Iris asked Barry after he told her what Singh had told him as they had dinner that night, since Iris had just finished getting moved into their loft that day as well.</p><p>"Yeah, since Allegra is only 17 right now, she can't be released unless it's into the custody of a family member." Barry said.</p><p>"But I thought that she was emancipated?" Iris asked.</p><p>"She was, but that status was revoked after she was arrested, since it was deemed that she is not responsible enough to be left alone." Barry said.</p><p>"Well, there is an option, but I'm not sure how you'd feel about it." Iris said.</p><p>"You want us to become Allegra's legal guardians don't you?" Barry asked.</p><p>"Yeah, how would you feel about that?" Iris asked.</p><p>"Honestly, I was trying to figure out how to bring the subject up with you." Barry said.</p><p>"So we're in agreement on that." Iris said and Barry nodded.</p><p>"It'll take a few days to get all the paperwork settled, but first, we should restore Allegra's memories and get her opinion on it, since it affects her to." Barry said and Iris nodded.</p><p>The next day, Barry and Iris were sitting in the visitor's room of Iron Heights Juvenile Wing as Allegra was brought out to see them.</p><p>"What do you two want?" Allegra asked, confused and annoyed by these two strangers.</p><p>"You'll know in a second." Barry said as he tapped the memory ring to Allegra's head, restoring her memories.</p><p>"What the hell?" Allegra asked as she adjusted to the pain as it died down.</p><p>"Sorry about that, but it was necessary." Barry said.</p><p>"Barry, Iris, what is going on and why am I an inmate again?" Allegra asked.</p><p>"Yeah sorry about that, but when the universe got reset, this happened." Barry said.</p><p>"Great. So now I'm stuck in prison again." Allegra said.</p><p>"Actually, there is a way you can qualify for the work release program, since your counterpart did have a history of good behavior." Iris said.</p><p>"I'm listening." Allegra said.</p><p>"I can offer you a part time job at Danvers Daily News, which is the news outlet I work for in this reality instead of the Central City citizen." Iris said.</p><p>"Really, you'll have to tell me more later, but Iris, they wouldn't agree to that until I turn 18, which won't be for another year since my emancipated status was revoked when I was arrested." Allegra said.</p><p>"Actually, Iris and I have a possible solution, but we wanted to run it by you before we did anything." Barry said.</p><p>"I'm listening." Allegra said.</p><p>"If you wanted, Barry and I could become your foster parents. You'd be released into our custody and we could give you a somewhat normal life. Let you finish actual school, you can work for me part time." Iris said.</p><p>"So you two would be my parents?" Allegra asked.</p><p>"You wouldn't have to call us mom and dad, I mean I still call Joe by his name." Barry said.</p><p>"Are you serious?" Allegra asked.</p><p>"Completely. But only if it's what you want." Iris said.</p><p>"Yeah, I do. My whole family are nothing but deadbeats, I have no idea where my parents are and we all know what happened to my cousin Esperanza." Allegra said.</p><p>"Great, we'll start putting forth the paperwork when we get home." Barry said and Allegra nodded.</p><p>"Thank you both." Allegra said.</p><p>"It's our pleasure." Barry told her and Allegra smiled, even as she was being escorted back to the cellblock.</p><p>It took about a week for Barry and Iris to get approved to be foster parents for Allegra and get everything settled, but now they were standing outside Iron Heights, where Barry hoped to soon be standing to pick up his dad, waiting as Allegra walked out.</p><p>"Welcome back to the outside world." Barry said.</p><p>"Great, so, are we going back to your place?" Allegra asked.</p><p>"You know, you can call it home since it is your home now." Barry said.</p><p>"Right sorry, this will take some getting used to." Allegra said.</p><p>"Anyways, I'm taking you home and Iris is meeting us there." Barry said.</p><p>"How?" Allegra asked and Barry just grinned.</p><p>"You'll see." Barry said as he grabbed her and sped off.</p><p>"Okay so, where's Iris?" Allegra asked when they came to a stop at the apartment.</p><p>"I'm right here." Iris said as she literally jumped out of a mirror.</p><p>"Whoa, since when can you do that?" Allegra asked.</p><p>"Since this universe came into existence I guess. I have powers similar to that of Sam Scudder now." Iris said.</p><p>"Cool." Allegra said.</p><p>"Thanks, but Allegra, now that you're living with us, we do need to go over rules." Iris said.</p><p>"I'm assuming this involves sending me to school?" Allegra asked and Barry nodded.</p><p>"Iris and I both agreed that we wanted to provide you with a somewhat normal life and that includes graduating from high school. You never finished high school in the old universe did you?" Barry asked.</p><p>"Not really." Allegra admitted, since honestly, she was a little embarrassed by the fact that she was a high school dropout, since she'd never been able to finish school due to bouncing in and out of prison her whole life. Sure she'd been going to juvenile schools while she was in prison, but she never managed to find a school to accept her outside and she always ended up back in prison, so she'd just ended up dropping out. Not that she was proud of it.</p><p>"Well, I talked to the judge and apparently you managed to get enough credits from all the juvenile schools you've attended to be able to start your junior year at Central City High and before you ask, it's non negotiable." Barry said.</p><p>"Actually, I'm kind of glad to be going to school and getting a normal life where I can distinguish myself from my family. As long as I still get to help Team Flash." Allegra said and Iris smiled.</p><p>"Yes, but not yet. You'll also have a part time job working for me, since that was part of the deal we made to get you out of prison. But school first, then work then superhero work. If your grades suffer, you'll be suspended from both of your jobs until you get them up. Do I make myself clear?" Iris asked.</p><p>"Completely." Allegra said, since she still wanted to be able to use her powers to help people.</p><p>"Good. you start school on Monday and I'm taking you shopping tomorrow with Caitlin and Cecile for new clothes." Iris said.</p><p>"Sounds like fun." Allegra said eagerly as Barry and Iris helped her get accustomed to her new home.</p>
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<a name="section0021"><h2>21. Chapter 21</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Eobard Thawne had just arrived back at his mansion after another day of pretending to be Harrison Wells, though this whole charade was starting to get old. However, as he got out of his wheelchair, he suddenly sensed the presence of negative tachyons.</p><p>"What the hell?" Thawne asked as he suddenly saw a dozen red particles come flying towards him and hit him, knocking him out, but not before he managed to hit the panic button Cisco had installed on all their phones in case they got kidnapped.</p><p>A few minutes later, the Flash arrived at the mansion, but he didn't know why Thawne had hit his panic button, since there was no sign of force entry and he couldn't even see Thawne anywhere.</p><p>"Dr. Wells, you called?" Flash called out.</p><p>"Hello Flash." he heard Wells' voice said and Flash turned and to his surprise, he saw Thawne walking. It was too soon for that.</p><p>"Dr. Wells, you can walk? That's incredible." Flash said.</p><p>"Oh please Barry, spare me the theatrics." Thawne said, much to Barry's surprise.</p><p>"Dr. Wells, what are you talking about?" Flash asked.</p><p>"Please, we both know that you know who I really am." Thawne said and Flash's blood ran cold when he realized who he was talking to.</p><p>"You're my Thawne aren't you. The one from the original multiverse." Flash said as he stared at his old foe, his eyes now full of hatred.</p><p>"That's right. Been awhile Flash. I wonder, how have you been? Have learned to cope with Nora's loss?" Thawne asked tauntingly and Flash glared at him.</p><p>"Don't you dare say her name, you son of a bitch. How is this even possible?" Flash demanded.</p><p>"Well you see, when you were dealing with Crisis, I was in the Negative Speed force, since it seemed prudent to ensure my survival there. However, when you and your fellow paragons reset the multiverse, my physical body was destroyed due to there not being able to be two of me in this universe, but my connection to the negative speed force preserved my consciousness inside it. I finally managed to escape the negative speed force and I've taken over the body of my counterpart from this earth, though he did not want to give up control easily, but in the end, I won." Thawne said.</p><p>"You killed yourself." Flash said.</p><p>"That's right. And now I am reborn on this new earth, my timeline and my powers fully intact." Thawne said.</p><p>"What do you want?" Flash asked, though he had an idea.</p><p>"You already know the answer to that Barry. To kill you." Thawne said as he sped forward and pushed the Flash up against a wall, his eyes glowing red as his hand vibrated at Flash's chest.</p><p>"You forgot one thing Thawne." Flash said.</p><p>"And what might that be?" Thawne asked.</p><p>"Now that you know everything, I don't need to hold back, which means I can do this." Flash said as he lightning punched Thawne across the room.</p><p>"Well played Flash. I see your speed is what it was before the crisis." Thawne said.</p><p>"Yep. So, you sure you want to do this?" Flash asked.</p><p>"I'm ecstatic that I get to kill you while you're at your best." Thawne said as he held up his hand with his Reverse Flash ring on it and released his suit and sped out of the mansion, the Flash hot on his heels as the two resumed their intense battle and hatred against each other.</p>
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<a name="section0022"><h2>22. Chapter 22</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Flash really hoped that Cisco was at Star Labs, because this Thawne was the one that would require the whole team to deal with.</p><p>"Cisco, you there?" Flash asked over the backup channel on the comms to keep Thawne from listening in.</p><p>"Yeah, I'm here, Barry, what's going on?" Cisco asked.</p><p>"Cisco, it's Thawne." Flash said as he continued to chase his nemesis.</p><p>"Yeah Barry, I know." Cisco said.</p><p>"No Cisco, it's our Thawne. Somehow he survived Crisis and he's taken over his doppelganger on this earth." Flash said.</p><p>"Wait what?" Cisco asked as he suddenly became much more focused.</p><p>"Yeah, I know. Somehow the negative speed force saved Thawne and gave him the ability to possess his doppelganger and now his speed is stabilized. I'm currently chasing him through Central City." Flash said.</p><p>"I'm tracking your speed force and his negative speed force signatures now." Cisco said as he searched.</p><p>"Once you see where I'm guiding him to, get the others and get there now. Including Iris, since we both know that we couldn't stop her from, since we both know that she wants a shot at Thawne almost as badly as I do." Flash said.</p><p>"Copy that, so you're not mad I made her that suit." Cisco said.</p><p>"I'm only surprised it took you so long to do it. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to this ass kicking." Flash said.</p><p>"Right, just make sure there's enough of him left over for me, Frost and Iris to get a shot in." Cisco said.</p><p>"No promises." Flash said as he got off the comms and directed his attention back to Thawne he began running much faster than he had before, grateful that he no longer needed to keep up appearances and took a detour.</p><p>"You really think I'm not prepared for that Barry?" Reverse Flash asked as he saw his opposite break off the chase to another direction, only to run straight into the Flash's fist, sending him flying back into a very familiar location.</p><p>"How?" Thawne asked.</p><p>"It took me awhile, but I finally figured out how to pull off that little party trick of yours. Have to admit, it is nice to see you fall for it for once. Now, do you recognize this place?" Flash asked as Thawne looked around.</p><p>"In about 30 years or so, this will be the place we lost XS." Reverse Flash said, only to have Flash pick him up by his chest and lightning punched him in the face.</p><p>"You're the reason I lost her. The reason I lost my mother and my father. And now you're finally going to pay for it." Flash said as he tossed his enemy across the plaza.</p><p>"All you did was hold XS back. If it weren't for you, she would've been safe in the negative speed force. But no, you poisoned her with your beliefs. Your ideals." Thawne spat.</p><p>"You have the nerve to blame me for that?" Flash demanded as he prepared to throw a lightning bolt at Thawne.</p><p>"Flash stop." a new voice said and Flash turned to see Vibe, Frost, Elongated Man, Jesse Quick (though he suspected that Jesse would be taking on a new name), and Iris, who dressed in some kind of gold and silver suit.</p><p>"Iris?" Flash asked.</p><p>"It's Mirage actually." Mirage said and Flash smiled, since he knew that Cisco has likely been saving that name for a while.</p><p>"He's the reason we lost XS." Flash said.</p><p>"I know. But doing what you're doing, you're just becoming more like him and it'll only be a matter of time until you end up tapping into the negative speed force, just like Nora did. She chose her fate because she didn't want to be like him. And she wouldn't want you or me or any of us to become like him either." Mirage begged.</p><p>"If she'd listened to me, she'd still be around." Reverse Flash said as Flash took a deep breath.</p><p>"Maybe, but she wouldn't be Nora. She wouldn't be my daughter. She'd be yours and she decided that she'd rather be erased from existence than accept that fate. She didn't want to become you. And neither do I." Flash said as the lightning faded from his body.</p><p>"Then I guess she won't be born at all." Reverse Flash said, only be sent back by a vibe blast.</p><p>"You're supposed to be a genius Thawne? Do you really think you can beat all 6 of us by yourself?" Vibe asked and Reverse Flash seethed, though he knew Cisco was right.</p><p>"This is not over Team Flash. And next time, you won't be so lucky." Reverse Flash said before speeding off.</p><p>"Coward." Flash said.</p><p>"Come on, let's get out of here, see if we can pick him up on the satellite." Mirage said and Flash nodded as Vibe opened up a breach to Star Labs, which they all went through.</p>
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<a name="section0023"><h2>23. Chapter 23</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"So, what the hell is going on? Isn't too early for Thawne to have attacked, he didn't even steal that tachyon device yet." Joe said after Barry, Iris, Cisco, Caitlin, Ralph and Jesse entered the Cortex via a breach where he, Cecile and Allegra were waiting.</p><p>"He doesn't need it anymore." Barry said angrily.</p><p>"I'm sorry what?" Cecile asked.</p><p>"That wasn't the Thawne of this universe that we were just with." Cisco said as he removed his goggles.</p><p>"Wait, what do you mean?" Joe asked, hoping Cisco wasn't about to say what he thought he was going to say.</p><p>"Somehow, our Thawne has returned and he's managed to take over the body of his counterpart on this earth, which means we've lost our advantage over him." Cisco said.</p><p>"How is that even possible?" Cecile asked.</p><p>"The negative speed force. Somehow it protected Thawne during Crisis, but it also reduced him to some kind of spectral form, most likely because there was already another version of Thawne on this earth. He somehow managed to escape and has taken possession of the Thawne of this earth, which means that not only are we now facing a Thawne with full access to his speed, but also one that knows everything about this team, including how to get under our skin." Barry said angrily.</p><p>"What are we missing?" Cecile asked.</p><p>"Thawne brought up Nora. It seems that the bastard blames us for what happened to her as much as we blame him for it." Iris explained.</p><p>"That son of a bitch." Joe said.</p><p>"Do you have any ideas on where he is now?" Cecile asked.</p><p>"I'll program the satellites to start scanning for his negative tachyon signature, since now that we can track them, it'll be harder for him to hide from us." Cisco said.</p><p>"There is one way to always know where he is." Barry said.</p><p>"What is it?" Jesse asked.</p><p>"The Negative Speed Force. It's how Thawne has evaded me all this time. But now, thanks to Nora, I know how to access it." Barry said.</p><p>"Barry no. Nora said it herself, accessing the negative speed force, it changed her, made her more like Thawne." Iris said.</p><p>"But if I tapped into the Negative Speed force, I'd be able to track Thawne, wherever and whenever he goes." Barry said.</p><p>"Barry no, it's too much of a risk. For all we know, the negative speed force could be what turned Thawne into what he is now. Believe me, I understand your temptation, but it's too dangerous. Accessing the negative speed force will change you. That's why Nora chose her fate. She'd rather die as herself than live as something like Thawne." Iris said as Barry sighed.</p><p>"I know that it's dangerous, but I can't help but think about it. A way to finally get an advantage over him." Barry said.</p><p>"I understand the temptation, but it's too dangerous." Iris said.</p><p>"So, what do we do now?" Allegra asked.</p><p>"Cisco, start running scans of the city's sewer system." Barry said and since Cisco knew exactly why Barry requested that, he nodded.</p><p>"I'll help." Caitlin said, since she, Joe and Iris also knew why Barry wanted them to search the sewers.</p><p>"Okay, I'll bite, why are you searching the sewers?" Ralph asked.</p><p>"Because right now, that is where Thawne is hiding Grodd. We find Grodd, we find Thawne." Barry said.</p><p>"Barry, can I talk to you for a minute?" Jesse asked as she pulled her brother to the side.</p><p>"What is it?" Barry asked.</p><p>"With Thawne totally aware, how are we going to get our dad out of prison?" Jesse asked and Barry smiled.</p><p>"I see you've started to see dad as your dad." Barry said and Jesse nodded.</p><p>"Yeah, it took some getting used to, but honestly, I have to admit, it will be nice to have a dad that isn't emotionally closed off. Not that I didn't love my dad from the old multiverse." Jesse said.</p><p>"No, I get it. And actually, this turn of events works to our advantage on that front." Barry said as he led Jesse into the Time Vault.</p><p>"What are we doing here?" Jesse asked.</p><p>"Gideon, pull up the confession." Barry said as he activated the pieu.</p><p>"Right away." Gideon said as an image appeared above it.</p><p>"What is this?" Jesse asked.</p><p>"One of the first things I did in this new reality was come in here and have Gideon modify Thawne's confession to this." Barry said as he played it to reveal the face of the real face of Eobard Thawne.</p><p>"Hello everyone. My name is Eobard Thawne. And being of sound mind and body, I freely confess to not only the murder of Nora Allen in her home on the night of March 18 in the year 2000, but also the deaths of Tess Morgan and Harrison Wells in the same year. I also confess to having stolen the identity of Harrison Wells after I killed him." Thawne said as he continued to go on, listing all the incriminating information he needed.</p><p>"Barry, that." Jesse said and Barry smiled.</p><p>"I know. That is everything we need to free our dad. Gideon, send the video to District Attorney Cecile Horton now." Barry said.</p><p>"Right away." Gideon said.</p><p>"Good thing that even though some of that stuff may be hard to believe, we've got the DA and police captain supporting our story. Dad will be free again." Jesse said.</p><p>"Exactly." Barry agreed with a smile.</p><p>"You win some and you lose some in this case." Jesse said and Barry nodded in agreement as they left the vault.</p>
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<a name="section0024"><h2>24. Chapter 24</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"So, is the video enough?" Barry asked Cecile.</p><p>"It should be enough to get your father a new trial and with this, plus the added testimony of Joe and Captain Singh, yes, I think that there is a very strong chance that your father will be a free man by the end of the week." Cecille said and both Barry and Jesse grinned at that.</p><p>"Thank you Cecille." Barry said as he hugged her.</p><p>"Don't thank me. Honestly, this is well overdue." Cecile said as a breach opened and Cisco and Frost jumped out of it.</p><p>"How did it go?" Barry asked, since they'd been searching the sewers for any trace of Grodd.</p><p>"There's no sign of Grodd anywhere in the sewer system." Frost said as she switched back to Caitlin.</p><p>"And there have been no sightings of him that could indicate him being in a tower." Cisco said.</p><p>"Guess Thawne took precautions to make it harder for us to find him. I'd say task the satellite with searching for him, but knowing Thawne, he likely uploaded something into our system to keep us from detecting the gorilla." Barry said and Cisco nodded.</p><p>"I'll start running a system purge for anything regarding Thawne's work in it." Cisco said and Barry nodded.</p><p>"Well, since we can't find Grodd, we might as well focus on what we can do. Such as getting dad out of prison and I think that when we do, we should restore his memories." Jesse said.</p><p>"Wait, what?" Barry asked.</p><p>"I think that the best way for us to keep him safe from Zoom if he exists in this universe or from Thawne is if he remembers the truth and that keeps him from leaving again. Besides, something tells me that waking up and finding out he has a daughter won't be the most surprising thing he's learned." Jesse said.</p><p>"If Jesse can handle the reality that she isn't Harry's daughter anymore, I think your dad can handle the fact that she's his daughter." Cisco said and Barry nodded.</p><p>"If it doesn't work, I'll call J'onn and ask him to run damage control." Barry said and they all nodded.</p><p>"Come on, let's go get some sleep. I have a feeling that we won't be finding any traces of Thawne or Grodd tonight." Iris said, honestly exhausted.</p><p>"Good idea." Barry said as they all headed out.</p><p>It turns out that the video was so convincing that a hearing wasn't even required as the judge who looked at the video and after hearing convincing arguments from both Joe and Singh, agreed to release Henry Allen without needing to bother with another trial, since he'd actually been the same judge who'd tried Henry before and honestly, even though the evidence at the time had been overwhelming, the judge still hadn't been sure he'd reached the right verdict.</p><p>Anyways, that was why now, Barry and Jesse were both smiling as they watched their father walk out of Iron Heights as a free man once again.</p><p>"Dad." Barry said as he hugged him.</p><p>"Hey slugger." Henry said as he then turned to his daughter.</p><p>"Hi Daddy." Jesse said, trying to keep her nerves under control, since she was nervous about how Henry would react when they restored his true memories.</p><p>"Jesse. Well don't just stand there, come give your old dad a hug." Henry said with a smile and Jesse did exactly that before she took a deep breath and pressed the memory ring against his arm, restoring his memories.</p><p>"What was that?" Henry asked as he gripped his head.</p><p>"That was me reminding you of the way things were." Jesse said, hoping she hadn't just made a big mistake.</p><p>"Like how I now have a daughter in addition to having a son." Henry said.</p><p>"Yeah." Jesse said nervously.</p><p>"It will take some getting used to, but I guess now I don't need to leave so soon again. Instead, I can take the time to get to know my daughter." Henry said with a slight smile and Jesse looked relieved as she hugged him again.</p><p>"Come on, there's a party waiting for you at Joe's." Barry said.</p><p>"So, can you take both of us?" Henry asked.</p><p>"Actually, both of us are speedsters, so I can take you and Jesse can follow." Barry said.</p><p>"I wonder what else has changed." Henry said.</p><p>"I'll tell you at Joe's. I think that we've all had enough of this place for one lifetime." Barry said and Henry nodded as Barry grabbed him and sped off, with Jesse hot on his heels.</p>
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<a name="section0025"><h2>25. Chapter 25</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When the Allens arrived back at Joe's house, Henry didn't think he'd be surprised when he walked in, but he was, since in addition to Joe, Iris, Caitlin, Cisco, Professor Stein and Clarissa (who'd also had her memories restored at Stein's insistence, since he didn't want to have to keep secrets from her and Clarissa had already known all their identities and had held a minor role in their world, so they could restore her mind, but in addition to them, Ralph, Jax, Cecille, and Allegra were also in attendance, since it was basically everyone who knew about Team Flash's secret that were there.</p>
<p>"Welcome home." They all shouted and Henry smiled as he first hugged Joe and then Iris.</p>
<p>"Iris, it's nice to know that I'll be at your wedding this time around." Henry said to his future daughter-in-law, who smiled as she hugged him.</p>
<p>"It will be nice to not only have my dad in attendance this time around. But there is also someone else you need to talk to." Iris said as she nodded at Allegra, who was honestly a bit nervous.</p>
<p>"You must be my new granddaughter." Henry said.</p>
<p>"Foster granddaughter." Allegra said.</p>
<p>"Allegra, we told you, you're a part of our family now and that won't change once you turn 18." Barry said and Allegra smiled at him.</p>
<p>"And you don't have a problem with me?" Allegra asked Henry nervously.</p>
<p>"Barry told me about you and honestly, I don't have a problem with it, since he and Iris are giving you a chance at a real life now. Plus, it gives me more reasons not to leave the city, since now I have both a daughter and a granddaughter to get to know." Henry said with a smile and Allegra sighed in relief at the fact her foster grandfather didn't hate her as Henry then looked at Joe.</p>
<p>"Joe, I hope you won't mind if I stay with you until I find my own place." Henry asked.</p>
<p>"Of course, though I'm kind of surprised you don't want to stay with one of your kids." Joe said.</p>
<p>"Jesse still has school and I don't want to encroach on Barry and Iris, since they've got enough going on in regards to planning their wedding." Henry said.</p>
<p>"Of course you're welcome to stay here." Joe said.</p>
<p>"We don't mind if you want to stay with us." Barry said.</p>
<p>"No offense slugger, but I have a feeling that staying at Joe's gives me a better chance of sleeping on a real bed instead of a couch." Henry said and Barry had to give him that.</p>
<p>"Fair enough." Barry agreed.</p>
<p>"Okay then, now, why don't we call a toast." Iris said as everyone took glasses of champagne.</p>
<p>"A toast to Henry. A man who has twice been convicted for a crime he didn't commit, but never let it get him down. And at long last, he's a free man once more, like he should've been all along. To Henry." Joe said.</p>
<p>"To Henry." Everyone but Barry and Jesse said.</p>
<p>"To dad." Barry and Jesse said as they all raised their glasses and took sips.</p>
<p>Before the conversation could continue, Barry's phone rang.</p>
<p>"Excuse me, I need to take this." Barry said as he stepped away and answered the call.</p>
<p>"Jefferson, what a surprise. I'm guessing this isn't a social call." Barry said knowingly.</p>
<p>"No it is not. It's a warning that trouble is headed your way." Jefferson said and Barry sighed, since he should've known that this good mood would not last long.</p>
<p>"What is it?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"The ASA abducted Lynn, most likely in an attempt to force her to create the meta stabilization she and Caitlin were working on and there's a good chance that they're heading to Central City to try and abduct Caitlin too." Jefferson said.</p>
<p>"That will not end well for them." Barry said, thinking of Caitlin's roommate and how she'd react to any attempt by this ASA to abduct her.</p>
<p>"My team is heading to Central City now, but I wanted to give you a heads up on what's coming your way." Jefferson said.</p>
<p>"Thanks. Head to Star Labs when you get here. I'll make sure Caitlin knows." Barry said as he hung up.</p>
<p>When Barry returned, everyone could tell by the look on his face that the party had ended.</p>
<p>"Who was that?" Iris asked.</p>
<p>"Black Lightning. He called to warn us that Caitlin is in danger." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Why me specifically?" Caitlin asked.</p>
<p>"That group, the ASA, wants you to create the meta stabilization serum that you've been working on with Dr. Stewart. They've already abducted her and Black Lightning called to tell me that they're likely coming here for you next. Black Lightning and his team are also on their way here as well." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Well, looks like the party is over and it's time to get back to work." Iris said.</p>
<p>"Frost is looking forward to when these ASA guys come knocking." Caitlin said and Barry couldn't help a small smile at the sound of that, since it would likely be entertaining for them.</p>
<p>"Let's get to Star Labs so we can begin preparing." Barry said as he, Iris, Cisco, Caitlin, Jesse and Ralph all left the house, leaving the adults and Allegra alone to continue talking.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0026"><h2>26. Chapter 26</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"So, do you have any ideas on what caused this?" Barry asked as he and Cisco stood outside the empty cell that Williams and his commandos had escaped from.</p>
<p>"No clue, but whoever did it, they knew what they were doing, since whatever they did, tricked the system into thinking that the door was still closed, fed a false feed into the surveillance cameras, even took out the alarms. And here I thought I'd perfected the system after Prometheus broke Black Siren out of here." Cisco said.</p>
<p>"Did the scanners pick up any unusual energy bursts?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"If they did, it was wiped from the system. Whoever did had to have in depth knowledge of our entire security system." Cisco said.</p>
<p>"Well that narrows it down slightly, since whoever broke them out would've had to be a top level genius in order to get in here and out without anyone noticing." Barry said and Cisco nodded.</p>
<p>"We'll find them soon enough. But in the meantime, what do we do now? Thawne's in the wind and if there's one thing we've learned from the past 6 years of dealing with him is that we can't find him unless he wants us too." Cisco said.</p>
<p>"I know. Honestly, I could search the entire timeline and still never find him. The only way we could have a chance at locating him is." Barry said.</p>
<p>"By accessing the negative speed force, which we've already decided is too dangerous, we saw what it did to Nora." Cisco said and Barry nodded.</p>
<p>"Right now I think our next order of business should be preparing to fight DeVoe, since we don't know if Zoom exists and even if he does, there are too many variables regarding him to be able to predict when he'll arrive." Barry said.</p>
<p>"What about Savitar?" Cisco asked.</p>
<p>"I don't know. Honestly, there's no way of knowing if he still exists in this new reality and if he does, he's never getting out of where he's trapped." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Well, maybe we should be sure about that, since if Savitar is still a factor, we need to know and be prepared for him." Cisco said and Barry nodded.</p>
<p>"I know, but before we do anything, I want to take precautions." Barry said.</p>
<p>"What sort of precautions?" Cisco asked.</p>
<p>"I want you and Caitlin to build the quark sphere and we'll bring in Tracy, have her build the speed force bazooka, so that way if Savitar does exist, we'll be ready to deal with him." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Well, I think I know someone you could talk to in the meantime." Cisco said.</p>
<p>"Who?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"Julian. A big portion of Savitar's plan to escape centers around Julian becoming Alchemy. If Julian has found the stone, then that confirms that Savitar does exist in this universe and then we can go from there." Cisco said.</p>
<p>"Well, I guess it's a good thing Julian just moved to Central City and he actually just started at CCPD." Barry said.</p>
<p>"You should restore his memories, best way to get an honest answer out of him." Cisco said and Barry nodded in agreement.</p>
<p>"I'll talk to him about it tomorrow, since that's technically his first day." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Great. But also, what are we gonna do about Star Labs? We both know that word has gotten out about Caitlin being the one to develop the stabilization cure they're using in Freeland. There's got to be a way we can spin that." Cisco said.</p>
<p>"Don't worry, I've already got something in mind for that, but I'll tell you once the whole team is assembled. Speaking of, we'd better get up to the Cortex." Barry said and Cisco nodded as they left the pipeline.</p>
<p>"Where were you guys?" Caitlin asked as Barry and Cisco joined her, Iris, Ralph, Jesse, Joe, Cecille and Allegra in the Cortex.</p>
<p>"Trying to figure out how Williams and his ASA jokers escaped the pipeline." Cisco said.</p>
<p>"And?" Caitlin asked.</p>
<p>"No luck. Hey Ralph, you want a new case?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"I appreciate the offer, but that's the sort of thing that would take up time I could be devoting to other cases." Ralph said and Barry nodded.</p>
<p>"Fair enough. But anyways, I called you guys here because I have an announcement to make and Cisco, Caitlin and I have something to show you." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Okay, what is the announcement?" Iris asked.</p>
<p>"I spoke to J'onn this morning and thanks to all the good PR that Caitlin developed the meta stabilization cure, he was able to get the government restrictions lifted from Star Labs, it's cleared to reopen an actual laboratory again." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Wait seriously?" Cisco asked eagerly and he could tell his girlfriend was just as surprised.</p>
<p>"Yeah, I figured you and Caitlin would be especially happy about that, since honestly, I still don't know how you two were getting paid." Barry said.</p>
<p>"We managed to get by on royalties from previous inventions, but it will be nice to get a fresh income." Caitlin said and Cisco nodded.</p>
<p>"And you both will be receiving raises, since I am planning on taking control of Star Labs, since the police did release it to me like Thawne's will intended." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Wait Barry, how are you going to be both a CSI and run this company?" Joe asked and Barry sighed.</p>
<p>"I'm not. I'm planning on Singh tomorrow when I go in, since honestly, the whole reason I became a CSI was to clear my dad's name and now I've done that. Only reason I didn't consider it before is because I didn't think there'd be a way to get the government restrictions lifted, but on this earth, I have the martian director of one of the most important government agencies in the country, on speed dial." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Well, that's a relief. But what are we going to do for a base if you reopen this place?" Iris asked and Cisco grinned.</p>
<p>"And that is what we have to show you. Cisco, if you'd please." Barry said and Cisco nodded as he opened a breach.</p>
<p>"Okay and where exactly will this breach take us?" Iris asked and Barry grinned.</p>
<p>"It's a surprise, but you'll see when you go through." Barry said as he stepped through the breach, followed by Caitlin and eventually, they all stepped through it, Cisco being the last one, the breach closing behind him.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0027"><h2>27. Chapter 27</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Whoa, what is this place?" Allegra asked as she was the last person to exit the breach before Cisco to find herself and the rest of Team Flash in a cool facility.</p>
<p>"Welcome to the Nexus." Cisco said with a grin.</p>
<p>"You've been saving that for years haven't you?" Caitlin asked her boyfriend with a grin.</p>
<p>"Yes I have. I am so glad I finally get to use that name." Cisco said.</p>
<p>"Okay, it's a cool name, but what is this place and where did it come from?" Iris asked her fiance.</p>
<p>"This is our new HQ. It was originally a Star Labs satellite facility, but like the rest of them, it was shut down after the explosion. I originally had Cisco start working on this place so that we'd have a secondary base for the whole team to meet up without Thawne suspecting anything, but then, Cisco, Caitlin and I decided that maybe it couldn't hurt to have a base of operations that bad guys couldn't break into on a weekly basis." Barry said.</p>
<p>"And why weren't the rest of us told?" Iris asked.</p>
<p>"Well, the three of us are sort of the original Team Flash, no offense Joe." Cisco said.</p>
<p>"None taken. You're right after all. You and Caitlin supported Barry becoming Flash before I did. And I have to admit, this is a nice surprise." Joe said.</p>
<p>"Yeah, I mean, it's not as big as Star Labs, but it's not as exposed, as in, not in the center of the city." Caitlin said.</p>
<p>"We also didn't want to tell you guys about it until it was done. Kind of a surprise. This place is also better equipped, since this is only the first floor of 15." Barry said.</p>
<p>"What's on each floor?" Iris asked.</p>
<p>"The bottom dozen or so are like the Starchives, mostly used for storage. We're on the top floor, which we basically turned into a new Cortex, it's our base of operations, though we may need to find someone else to run it, since I have my powers back and Iris now has her own powers and this sort of thing isn't exactly Joe or Cecille's strong suit. No offense." Cisco said.</p>
<p>"None taken again, you're right." Joe said.</p>
<p>"I can do it." Allegra said.</p>
<p>"What?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"I think we all know that you and Iris are not going to be letting me into the field anytime soon, so maybe I could help run comms or something, since it's clear that this team needs someone running QB from here." Allegra said.</p>
<p>"I mean, it's not the worst idea. It's a way for Allegra to help the team without putting herself in danger. I mean, I know she can defend herself, but I also don't think it's a good idea to let a high schooler get into the field." Iris said.</p>
<p>"You and Cisco will need to teach her how to do the things you both did." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Done." Cisco said and Iris nodded her agreement as well.</p>
<p>"Okay, so what else does this place have?" Joe asked.</p>
<p>"The floor below us has Cisco's and Caitlin's labs, along with a space that Jesse can turn into a lab if you want to." Barry said.</p>
<p>"I'll take a look at it in a bit." Jesse said.</p>
<p>"The floor beneath that is the training level. We've got a speed lab for Jesse and I, along with Wally when we find him and a training zone for the rest of you to train with your powers, along with a gym to work on non powered combat." Barry said.</p>
<p>"What else is here?" Joe asked.</p>
<p>"Why don't we just give them a tour. They'll need to learn their way around the base anyways." Caitlin said.</p>
<p>"We will, but first, I have one more thing to show you guys." Barry said with a grin as he tapped a few buttons on one of the consoles and six panels in the main wall opened up to reveal 6 cases, each one with a mannequin in them and above each was some kind of emblem. From left to right it went, the Elongated Man Emblem, then the same Vibe symbol that was on Cisco's ring, then what looked like some kind of mirror symbol, likely for Mirage, then obviously, the Flash Lightning bolt, then a snowflake for Frost and finally, another lightning bolt for Trajectory.</p>
<p>"Okay, not that it isn't cool, but why do we need these when we have our rings?" Iris asked.</p>
<p>"This is more of a repair bay, so that if the suits are damaged in a fight, just pop them in here for repairs." Cisco explained.</p>
<p>"Got it." Iris said as they others nodded in agreement.</p>
<p>"Okay then, now why don't we start the tour." Barry said as he led the whole team out of the new cortex and into the rest of their new base.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0028"><h2>28. Chapter 28</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After the tour, Barry pulled Joe and Iris aside.</p>
<p>"What's going on?" Joe asked.</p>
<p>"I have a potential idea on how to find Wally, though it is pretty experimental." Barry said.</p>
<p>"How?" Joe asked.</p>
<p>"I think I might be able to use the speed force to find him." Barry said.</p>
<p>"What do you mean?" Iris asked.</p>
<p>"All speedsters are connected through the speed force. If Wally has regained his speed, I think I can use the speed force to find him." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Barry, you've never done that before." Iris said.</p>
<p>"I know, but I think it'll work." Barry said.</p>
<p>"So, how exactly are you going to do it?" Joe asked.</p>
<p>"Same way I do every other problem. By running." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Yeah, somehow I get the feeling that won't work. And even if it does, it'll take too long." Iris said.</p>
<p>"Got any better ideas?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"Maybe Gideon can help?" Iris said.</p>
<p>"What?" Joe asked, as Barry considered it.</p>
<p>"No, it's worth a shot. Gideon has all of Thawne's research on the speed force, so if there's a better way to pull this off, she can tell me." Barry said.</p>
<p>"So I guess that means back to Star Labs." Joe said and Barry grinned.</p>
<p>"Not exactly." Barry said as he led them back into the command center and tapped a few buttons on the computers before Gideon popped up.</p>
<p>"Whoa, that's new." Joe said.</p>
<p>"Hello Barry Allen, Iris West-Allen, Joe West." Gideon said.</p>
<p>"Wait, you recognize us too?" Iris asked.</p>
<p>"Of course. Iris West-Allen, reporter and editor of Danvers Daily News, Central City division." Gideon said.</p>
<p>"Well, that sounds promising. I should talk to Kara about that." Iris said and Barry rolled his eyes.</p>
<p>"And me?" Joe asked.</p>
<p>"Joseph West, chief of Central City Police." Gideon said.</p>
<p>"Okay, that's enough." Barry said, deciding that she'd revealed too much information about the future.</p>
<p>"I know it's tempting, believe me, I do, but you both need to let things play out naturally." Barry said and they both nodded as they got back to the matter at hand.</p>
<p>"How did you do this?" Iris asked.</p>
<p>"Cisco and I have learned enough about Gideon's tech to be able to link her to our system here. Her AI core is still in the time vault, but now she's connected to the Nexus system." Barry explained and they both nodded.</p>
<p>"How can I help you today?" Gideon asked.</p>
<p>"Gideon, you have all of Thawne's research regarding speedster abilities correct?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"Of course. How can I be of assistance?" Gideon asked.</p>
<p>"Did Thawne's research ever mention anything about using the speed force to actually communicate with other speedsters?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"Of course. I can bring up his exact notes on the subject if you'd like?" Gideon asked.</p>
<p>"Perfect." Barry said as Gideon brought files up on the monitors.</p>
<p>"Okay, I don't understand any of this." Iris said.</p>
<p>"Welcome to my world." Joe said.</p>
<p>"It's complicated, but it looks like the method Thawne determined involves actually projecting my consciousness into the speed force. He was very thorough on the method on how to do it and he even made it understandable to 21st century speedsters and scientists." Barry said.</p>
<p>"So, do you think it'll work?" Joe asked.</p>
<p>"It might take a few tries to get it right, but yeah, it should." Barry said as he quickly speed read all the notes.</p>
<p>"So, how does it work, once you project your consciousness into the speed force?" Iris asked.</p>
<p>"From what I can tell, it looks like once I'm in, I'll have to focus my connection on Wally, basically broadcast a signal to him across the speed force and if he's connected to it, he'll hear it and hopefully he'll have enough sense to answer, cause if he doesn't, well then, I might lock him in the pipeline for a few days." Barry said and Joe laughed.</p>
<p>"Sounds fair. Good luck." Joe said.</p>
<p>"I'll find your son." Barry said.</p>
<p>"You mean my other son." Joe said and Barry smiled.</p>
<p>"And once I find Wally, we are going to start planning our wedding." Barry said to Iris.</p>
<p>"Speaking of weddings, thanks to Crisis, we got an invite to Clark Kent and Lois Lane's wedding." Iris said and Barry chuckled.</p>
<p>"Yeah, I know. When I talked to Kara, it sounds like invites went out to the superhero community." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Can't wait for that." Iris said and Barry rolled his eyes.</p>
<p>"Anyways, I'm going to see if I can find Wally." Barry said and Joe and Iris nodded as they left him alone to start trying.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0029"><h2>29. Chapter 29</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It took Barry a few tries, but eventually, he managed to project his consciousness into the speed force.</p>
<p>"Nice. Now to find Wally." Barry said as he looked around the storm.</p>
<p>"Well done Barry Allen." a familiar voice said and Barry turned to see the speed force, once more in the form of his mother.</p>
<p>"What are you doing here?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"Attempting to help you. While we are impressed that you managed to learn this new skill on your own, you do not have enough mastery of it yet to be able to do what you're attempting to do on your own." the speed force said.</p>
<p>"What do you mean?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"While you have learned to project your consciousness into the speed force, right now, all you can do is search it mindlessly. You haven't yet mastered how to lock onto a target within the speed force." the speed force said.</p>
<p>"Can't I just use my connection to Wally like I did to locate Oliver, Kate, Sara and J'onn when we were running through the speed force in Crisis?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"If you and Wally had both physically entered the speed force, then yes, but since neither of you are physically in it, then it is a bit harder." the speed force said.</p>
<p>"What do you mean?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"What I mean is that you are connected to literally every speedster that is connected to it. While you could search for Wally West, it would take time." the speed force said.</p>
<p>"So, how can I find him a lot faster?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"With a guide from another, more experienced speedster." the speed force said and before Barry could ask who, another figure appeared, wearing a familiar suit and an especially familiar helmet.</p>
<p>"Who are you?" Barry asked, though he had a feeling he knew.</p>
<p>"I could ask you the same question." the guy said.</p>
<p>"Barry Allen, meet Jay Garrick, your grandfather." the speed force said.</p>
<p>"Wait, what?" both men said at once.</p>
<p>"Barry is actually the second Flash. Jay, you passed your metagene down to your son Henry and he passed it down to his son, Barry." the speed force said and Jay sighed.</p>
<p>"I haven't seen my son since my wife took him from me in the divorce." Jay said.</p>
<p>"Okay, moving on." Barry said, deciding that he'd need to have a talk with his father after this.</p>
<p>"So, why am I here?" Jay asked as the speed force brought him up to speed.</p>
<p>"So, I'm teaching my grandson how to track a specific speedster through the speed force." Jay said.</p>
<p>"How exactly is this happening, since we're both at different points in time." Barry asked.</p>
<p>"You know that the speed force exists outside of the space time continuum, which means that we can communicate through it, even across time itself." Jay said and Barry nodded, since he should've thought of that.</p>
<p>"Okay, so, how do we do this?" Barry asked as the speed force entity vanished, leaving the two alone.</p>
<p>"Close your eyes and focus on me." Jay said.</p>
<p>"What?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"Just do it." Jay said and Barry nodded as he did and he quickly understood why Jay had told him to do that.</p>
<p>"I get it now. I can feel it. Your connection to the speed force." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Exactly. While every speedster is connected to the speed force, each one has a unique connection to it. So, whoever it is you're looking for in here, first, focus on the connections of all speedsters then focus solely on who you're looking for. The other connections will start disappearing until you find the person you're looking for. Though it is a lot harder than it sounds." Jay said.</p>
<p>"Isn't everything regarding the speed force harder than it sounds?" Barry asked and Jay chuckled.</p>
<p>"Fair enough. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go. My team needs me." Jay said.</p>
<p>"Team?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"The second Justice Society of America." Jay said as he faded away before Barry could ask more questions.</p>
<p>"Okay, let's do this gramps." Barry said as he got back to why he'd come here in the first place, finding Wally, as he closed his eyes and focused again, this time on every speedster in the speed force and once again, he found himself surprised by just how many there were. Then he began focusing on Wally's connection to the speed force as he began seeing the other connections disappearing until finally, he saw Wally's link and, as if on some instinct, reached and grabbed it.</p>
<p>When he opened his eyes, he found Wally standing in front of him.</p>
<p>"Barry." Wally said.</p>
<p>"Wally." Barry said as they hugged.</p>
<p>"It's good to see you man." Wally said.</p>
<p>"You too. Where are you and how do you remember me?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"I'm with the Legends, Sara restored my memories. I'll be back in Central City soon, but right now, they need my help." Wally said.</p>
<p>"Okay, I'm just relieved to know you're okay and your father and sister will too. Also, consider this your's and the Legends' invite to our wedding." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Great. Can't wait, I'll see you guys soon." Wally said.</p>
<p>"You too. But hey, before you go, what exactly are the legends up to?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"We're hunting down the pieces of the spear of destiny. We've almost got them all." Wally said.</p>
<p>"That's the artifact the original JSA were scattered across time to protect right?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"Yep. Now we're heading to get Dr. Mid-Nite's, but that might be a bit tricky, since if this timeline is the same, it's implanted in his body." Wally said.</p>
<p>"So just phase it out of him like you phased your blood into Yorkin." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Thanks. I can't wait to see you guys in person." Wally said with a smile as he faded away.</p>
<p>"Feeling's mutual." Barry said as he allowed himself to return to the physical world as well.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>In This universe, Jay Garrick is played by Mark Valley</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0030"><h2>30. Chapter 30</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"So, did you find Wally?" Joe asked when Barry returned from the speed force.</p>
<p>"Yeah I did. He's fine, he's with the Legends, I guess Sara restored his memories, but he said that once the legends are done with their current mission, he'll come back to Central City." Barry said and Iris could tell that something had happened in the speed force that Barry wasn't telling them and it was clear it was getting to him.</p>
<p>"Barry, is everything okay?" Iris asked.</p>
<p>"Yeah, I'm fine." Barry said, but neither Joe or Iris were fooled.</p>
<p>"Barry, what's going on?" Joe asked.</p>
<p>"Let's just say I discovered another change in this reality post Crisis." Barry said.</p>
<p>"And that is?" Iris asked.</p>
<p>"It's one that actually affects my family, since while I was in the speed force, I found out that I am not the first Flash of this earth." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Wait what?" Joe asked.</p>
<p>"Apparently there was another Flash in the 90s, who's activities were kept top secret, which is why there's no record of him existing. I met him while I was in the speed force." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Who?" Iris asked.</p>
<p>"Jay Garrick. But not the Jay we knew." Barry said.</p>
<p>"What does that have to do with your family?" Joe asked.</p>
<p>"Apparently Jay was married. His wife's name was Joan. Joan Allen." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Your grandmother." Joe said and Barry nodded.</p>
<p>"Yeah, my dad's mother." Barry said.</p>
<p>"So, you inherited your metahuman gene from your grandfather. And so did Jesse. But why didn't your dad get it?" Iris asked.</p>
<p>"I guess the metagene can skip a generation. But honestly, I don't think my dad even knew about his dad. At least, since we restored his memories, he hasn't shown any indication about it." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Then you need to tell him. And Jesse." Iris said.</p>
<p>"I'm going to tell them both, but I'll wait until after I've talked to my dad before I tell Jesse. Right now, I'm just trying to figure out how to bring the topic up with my dad, since he always shot Jesse and I down whenever we tried to ask about his dad."  Barry said.</p>
<p>"Barry, you just need to insist on it." Iris said.</p>
<p>"I know, but that doesn't mean he'll listen." Barry said.</p>
<p>"I used to think that about Nora too. But she came around and I know your dad will too." Iris said.</p>
<p>"I hope you're right." Barry said as he sped out.</p>
<p>"Iris, it's training time. If you've mastered teleporting through mirrors, what do you think about seeing what else you can do?" Cisco asked as he entered the room.</p>
<p>"Do I get to wear my suit?" Iris asked and Cisco chuckled.</p>
<p>"That's completely up to you." Cisco said.</p>
<p>"Speaking of suits, we found Wally and he's with the legends, so start working on his suit." Joe said.</p>
<p>"Copy that." Cisco said with a grin.</p>
<p>When Barry arrived at his dad's new apartment, he took a deep breath before knocking on the door, and hoping that his father was home.</p>
<p>"Hey Slugger, what a nice surprise." Henry said as he opened the door and hugged his son.</p>
<p>"Hey dad, is now a good time?"  Barry asked.</p>
<p>"Of course, come on in. I've actually been trying to find a time to invite you and your sister over to see my new place." Henry said as he showed Barry in.</p>
<p>"Wow, this place is nice." Barry said as he walked in.</p>
<p>"Yeah, I bought it with some of the money I got from the settlement the state gave me for 15 years of wrongful incarceration." Henry said and Barry smiled.</p>
<p>"Well, it's nice and you should throw a housewarming party." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Barry, we both know that's not why you came over here. What's going on?" Henry asked.</p>
<p>"Okay dad, this is a topic I know you don't want to talk about, but this time, I think we need to." Barry said.</p>
<p>"What is it?" Henry asked.</p>
<p>"Your dad." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Barry, the man drove my mother and me away when I was five and I haven't seen him since." Henry said.</p>
<p>"So grandma never told you." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Told me what?" Henry asked.</p>
<p>"Grandpa was like Jesse and I, a speedster." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Wait, what?" Henry asked.</p>
<p>"Yeah. I recently reached out through the speed force trying to find Joe's son Wally and when I did, I also learned that the reason grandma and grandpa got divorced is because he was a speedster. In fact, he was the first Flash." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Now it all makes sense. Why my mom didn't want me around him. She didn't want me to get sucked into that world. Though I did anyways, since it appears that my father passed on his powers to my kids." Henry said.</p>
<p>"Yeah, I guess so. Though I'm kind of surprised that after we restored your memories, you didn't put it together, considering the fact that your dad's name was." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Jay Garrick." Henry said.</p>
<p>"Exactly. Dad, your father was a hero. The reason no one knew about him is because unlike me, his actions were done in complete secrecy, as were the actions of his teammates, the second Justice Society of America." Barry said.</p>
<p>"All this time I thought he abandoned me, but instead, it turns out that he was trying to keep me safe." Henry said, feeling guilty for how he'd thought of his father until now.</p>
<p>"Parents can surprise you and they're not always the people we think they are." Barry said as he thought of Nora and her relationship with Iris before he and his dad continued talking.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0031"><h2>31. Chapter 31</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Today was the day they'd been waiting for. Thanks to J'onn's influence in the government, Barry had been able to get the government restrictions on Star Labs lifted, meaning it could once again be a functional lab, which was another reason he was glad that he'd moved Team Flash's headquarters out of the building.</p>
<p>Anyways, today was the day Barry was holding the official press conference to announce Star Lab's reopening.</p>
<p>"You ready for this Barry?" Caitlin asked as she and Cisco stood with him behind the podium.</p>
<p>"As I'll ever be. I just hope I can figure out how to run this place." Barry said and Cisco chuckled.</p>
<p>"You'll do fine." Cisco said.</p>
<p>"Thanks. Now, let's do this." Barry said as he took a deep breath before he led them up to the podium, where Cisco and Caitlin took their places behind him as Barry approached the microphone to see the press gathered. He took another deep breath before he began his speech.</p>
<p>"Thank you all for coming out. My name is Barry Allen and I am the new owner and CEO of the Scientific Technological Advanced Research Laboratories or Star Labs. I know a lot of you were surprised when you learned that this day had come and I know that a majority of this city has hoped it never would. Today is the day that Star Labs takes our first step towards becoming the gem we once were. Today, I am proud to announce that Star Labs has been cleared to become a fully functional laboratory and research facility again. While I do not expect the city to take this news lightly, I am going to assure you right now that we will not put this city in danger. The man who used to run this facility was not Harrison Wells, as you all know, but an Impostor. And his crimes were not just limited to that. He is also the man who killed my mother and framed my father for it. This unnamed man (they'd chosen to keep Thawne's name secret to protect Eddie and the rest of the Thawne family from the repercussions of being related to Thawne, especially since they didn't even know about Thawne yet and they'd elected not to restore Eddie's memories since they didn't want to risk him shooting himself again, especially since it turned out that sacrifice had been for nothing), is a criminal of the highest order. One of my goals in reopening this facility is to use it's resources to help the CCPD find him and bring him to justice." Barry said as the crowd began to pester him with questions.</p>
<p>Not surprisingly, the first question he answered was from Iris.</p>
<p>"Mr. Allen, Iris West, Danvers Daily News. I think I'm going to ask the question I'm sure all of my colleagues want to, but will you be rebuilding the particle accelerator?" Iris asked.</p>
<p>"Absolutely not. One of the conditions for reopening Star Labs was that the accelerator would be decommissioned, which it has been and once I have the necessary equipment, funding and staff, it will be dismantled." Barry said as he continued to answer other questions.</p>
<p>"What is Star Labs' policy on hiring? Do you plan on discriminating against aliens or metahumans?" Mason Bridges asked Barry.</p>
<p>"No. As long as they have the expertise to perform whatever tasks they were hired for, then the person will be hired, human, metahuman, alien or anything else." Barry said as he fielded more questions.</p>
<p>"Now, enough about me. Before we end, I'd like to introduce my right and left hands here at Star Labs. I'm proud to introduce to you to Dr. Caitlin Snow, the head of Star Labs biochemistry division and co-head of our new metahuman research division and Cisco Ramon, head of Star Labs R&amp;D and cohead of metahuman research. They have been with this company since before the explosion and it is time that they are able to use their brilliant minds to help the world through this facility once again." Barry said as he introduced Cisco and Caitlin.</p>
<p>"Mr. Allen, one more question." Linda Park asked.</p>
<p>"Yes?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"How long will it be before the labs officially reopens, since it is clearly not ready to open today?" Linda asked.</p>
<p>"That really just depends on how long it takes to hire an adequate staff and deal with any other concerns, but we're hoping to get this place fully operational within the next 2 months." Barry said as the conference ended.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0032"><h2>32. Chapter 32</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Barry was standing at the primary computer terminal in the Nexus's Cortex, trying to run a satellite search, but it wasn't going well.</p><p>"You're still here." Allegra said, causing Barry to jump as his foster daughter entered the cortex.</p><p>"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at school?" Barry asked her.</p><p>"Barry, it's 10pm on a Saturday." Allegra said.</p><p>"Wait what?" Barry asked.</p><p>"How long have you been here?" Allegra asked.</p><p>"I don't know." Barry admitted.</p><p>"What are you doing that's required you to ditch your new company, your fiance and your foster daughter?" Allegra asked.</p><p>"Searching for someone." Barry said.</p><p>"I thought you said finding Thawne was impossible unless he wants to be found." Allegra said.</p><p>"It is, but I'm not looking for him, I'm looking for his pet, Grodd." Barry said.</p><p>"Wait, as in Gorilla Grodd?" Allegra asked.</p><p>"Yep. Grodd is incredibly dangerous, especially if Thawne is still holding his leash." Barry said.</p><p>"And you're hoping that Grodd can lead you to Thawne." Allegra said and Barry nodded.</p><p>"And even if he can't, after everything he did in the old reality, I need to take him down before he has a chance to become anywhere close to as smart and powerful as he was before." Barry said.</p><p>"Okay, but if you burn yourself out looking for him, then you won't really be able to beat him. You can't expect to be able to protect this city if you burn yourself in the process. Central City doesn't just need the Flash, they need him to be at his best, which means taking care of yourself, eating, drinking, sleeping." Allegra said and Barry chuckled.</p><p>"You're a pretty smart kid, you know that?" Barry asked.</p><p>"Well, I've had pretty good examples." Allegra said.</p><p>"Iris." Barry said.</p><p>"Well yes, but also you. And Cisco, and Frost and Caitlin and the rest of the team." Allegra said and Barry smiled, right as the computers blared.</p><p>"What is that?" Allegra asked as Barry checked the computers.</p><p>"It's a message. From Grodd." Barry said.</p><p>"What does it say?" Allegra asked.</p><p>"Flash, come and meet me. Come alone. And he also provided coordinates" Barry said.</p><p>"You think it's a trap?" Allegra asked.</p><p>"Wouldn't be surprised. But that doesn't change the fact that this is the first trace we've found of Grodd on this earth. Call the others, tell them to get here and be on standby in case things escalate." Barry said.</p><p>"Why can't I come with you?" Allegra asked and Barry smiled at her.</p><p>"Allegra, you have made incredible bounds in your training, but you're not ready to fight an enemy like Grodd. Besides, he said come alone and with him it's better to play on the side of caution." Barry said.</p><p>"But why would Grodd send you a message? Wouldn't attacking you be easier?" Allegra asked.</p><p>"Honestly, trying to figure out Grodd's mind is impossible." Barry said as he sped out of the cortex, leaving Allegra to do what he said.</p><p>When Flash arrived at the coordinates Grodd had provided, he looked around an empty warehouse, searching for any signs of the gorilla.</p><p>"Okay Grodd, I'm here. What do you want?" Flash asked as Grodd jumped down from the ceiling.</p><p>You came. Grodd was not sure Flash would come. Grodd said in his mind.</p><p>"Why send a message?" Flash asked.</p><p>Because Grodd is not here to harm Flash. Grodd needs Flash's help. Grodd said.</p><p>"What are you talking about?" Flash asked, wondering what was going on, since this first encounter with Grodd was going a lot differently than his original one.</p><p>Grodd does not wish to be Flash's enemy anymore. Grodd said, taking Flash aback.</p><p>"Wait, anymore?" Flash asked and Grodd nodded.</p><p>Grodd's immense mind was not affected by the Crisis or the merging of earths . Grodd explained.</p><p>"So you've had the same intelligence you did before the Crisis this whole time. Why not attack us sooner?" Flash asked.</p><p>Because Grodd no longer wishes to fight Flash. Grodd only wants to live in peace now. Grodd said.</p><p>"What?" Flash asked.</p><p>Before the crisis, Grood had many primitive thoughts and he could no longer lie to himself about his goals. But Grodd no longer wishes to be that way. To be a monster. Grodd only wants to live in peace. Grodd said.</p><p>"And why should I believe that?" Flash asked.</p><p>Because Flash and Grodd now share an enemy. Grodd said.</p><p>"Thawne." Flash said and Grodd nodded.</p><p>Father was very unhappy when Grodd refused to be his weapon. He has been hunting Grodd ever since. Grodd said.</p><p>"Wait, you refused Thawne?" Flash asked.</p><p>Father sees Grodd the same way he sees Flash. As tools to be used and discarded as he sees fit. But Grodd is no longer his tool. Grodd wishes to be free. But he needs Flash's help to do it. Grodd said.</p><p>"I can't stop Thawne if I don't know where he is? Do you?" Flash asked and Grodd shook his head.</p><p>No, the reason Grodd was finally able to reach out to you is because Father has vanished. But Grodd needs Flash's help. Grodd said.</p><p>"What do you need my help with?" Flash asked, honestly unable to believe he was saying this, but then again, he was the one who believed in giving people second chances, even gorillas.</p><p>One of the changes to this universe is that Gorilla City is here now. Grodd cannot get there without facing father alone. He needs help. Grodd said.</p><p>"Why do you want to go to Gorilla City?" Flash asked.</p><p>Not to raise another army, but to live out the rest of his days in peace. Despite what I said before, Gorilla City is the only place Grodd ever felt truly happy. Grodd said.</p><p>"I'll discuss it with my team and maybe we'll help you. But Grodd, if you betray us, Thawne will be the least of your worries. Do I make myself clear?" Flash asked and Grodd nodded, but before either of them could do anything, a breach opened and Frost and Vibe jumped out.</p><p>"We heard everything." Vibe said.</p><p>Caitlin. Grodd has missed you. Grodd said.</p><p>"Caity's not here right now Grodd, but she's saying the feeling is not mutual." Frost said.</p><p>"Guys, I think that despite everything, Grodd is telling the truth." Flash said.</p><p>"You sure?" Vibe asked.</p><p>"There is one way to know for sure." Frost said.</p><p>"How?" Flash asked.</p><p>"Let Cisco vibe him. Then we'll know his true intentions." Frost said as all three of them turned to Grodd.</p><p>Grodd agrees. And he hopes that you will see his intentions are genuine. Grodd said as Vibe cautiously stepped towards him and placed his hand on Grodd's arm and vibed him.</p><p>After a few minutes, he pulled away.</p><p>"Well?" Flash asked.</p><p>"He's telling the truth. But I still think that we should take some sort of precaution." Vibe said.</p><p>"Maybe we should embed a tracking device into his cerebellum so that we can keep a closer eye on him." Frost said.</p><p>Grodd agrees as long as Team Flash will keep their promise. Gorilla City is the only place Grodd cannot only call home, but be safe from father. Grodd said.</p><p>"He's not wrong. Even Thawne would think twice about attacking a city full of gorillas like Grodd." Flash said.</p><p>"Okay then. I guess we're really doing this." Vibe said.</p><p>After the procedure was completed, Grodd stood with Barry, Cisco and Caitlin in the breach room.</p><p>Thank you for giving Grodd another chance. Grodd said.</p><p>"Prove to us that you deserve it. Otherwise we will stop you." Barry said as Grodd nodded before actually holding out his hand, which, to everyone's surprise, Barry shook.</p><p>Will Caitlin visit Grodd? Grodd asked Caitlin, who smiled at him.</p><p>"I wish I could Grodd, but you know how the Gorillas feel about humans in their city. But maybe we can figure out a video chat or something." Caitlin said and Grodd nodded before Cisco finally opened the breach.</p><p>"That'll get you close, but not all the way to Gorilla City, since we don't want to give them a way here in case any of the other gorillas decide to pick up where you left off." Cisco said and Grodd nodded before he stepped through the breach, which closed behind him.</p><p>"That was surprisingly anticlimactic." Cisco said.</p><p>"Honestly, if it means that Grodd can go from being an enemy to a potential ally, I'll take it." Barry said and they nodded before walking out of the breach room.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0033"><h2>33. Chapter 33</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Today was sort of an offday for Team Flash, since there hadn't been any serious crimes that needed to be handled, so the team was kind of taking it easy. Jesse was at Hudson University for finals week, Ralph was working on a case to expose to Mayor Bellows as the criminal he is, Joe was at CCPD for his normal crime fighting job, Cecille was out of town visiting her daughter and the rest of Team Flash was gathered at the Nexus, all of them doing different things.</p>
<p>Cisco and Caitlin were in Cisco's lab and Barry had noticed how the security cameras in it had been disabled, so he was quickly able to determine what they were doing when they should be working, but honestly, as long as they weren't disrupting anyone, he saw no need to interrupt them, especially since he did not need Frost on his ass about it, as he stood in the command center in the Nexus, checking the city's surveillance system for any signs of real trouble and Iris was in the training room with Allegra, since they'd decided that it was time to start her real training, since while she'd proven she knew how to use her powers, they could use some refinement.</p>
<p>Anyways, Barry was currently working in the cortex of the Nexus when he heard a familiar voice behind him.</p>
<p>"Barry Allen, we need to speak." Mar Novu said as Barry whirled around to face him.</p>
<p>"What do you want? Literally every time you show up, bad things happen." Barry complained.</p>
<p>"I am aware of that, but there is a matter we must discuss." Novu said.</p>
<p>"Let me guess, the Anti Monitor is alive." Barry said, not at all surprised.</p>
<p>"You don't seem as surprised as I thought you would be." Novu said and Barry shrugged.</p>
<p>"If Oliver could survive being at Ground Zero of the big bang, I don't see why the anti monitor couldn't survive it too." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Fair enough. Fortunately, you bought us some time." Novu said.</p>
<p>"What do you mean? Oliver recovered instantly." Barry asked.</p>
<p>"Only because he had a doppelganger in this new universe to transfer his consciousness into, as all you paragons did. Mobius did not, therefore, he is still healing since while he survived the battle, just as Oliver Queen was, he was severely injured and weakened. He has spent the past few millennia recovering in the anti matter universe and he is still not yet ready to attack." Novu said.</p>
<p>"So why are you here?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"Because of a disturbing discovery I have made in my plans to prevent Mobius from growing as strong as he did before." Novu said.</p>
<p>"I'm listening." Barry said.</p>
<p>"I've discovered how you have not been able to track the Reverse Flash. It would appear that your opposite has joined forces with mine." Novu said, much to Barry's shock.</p>
<p>"That son of a bitch. But then again, that's not surprising considering in the original crisis, Thawne was the one leading the army of shadow demons. But I can't believe the Anti Monitor would partner with him." Barry said.</p>
<p>"He didn't. He recruited Thawne to be his general." Novu said.</p>
<p>"Well, now I know where he is, what do I do now?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"As frustrating as it may be, there is nothing you can do until he returns to this universe, since the barrier between this universe and the antimatter universe is too strong for a normal breach to get through. It would take an immense amount of power to get through and that barrier is the only reason we have time to find a solution." Novu said.</p>
<p>"How did Thawne get through the barrier?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"Mobius was able to weaken it enough to let him through, though doing so cost him precious energy. It will take longer for him to recover and build enough energy to bring the barrier down." Novu said.</p>
<p>"Okay, is there anything else you need to tell me?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"Actually yes. The first thing is that you cannot tell anyone aside from your team about this. I will inform the other paragons when the time is right for them to know." Novu said and Barry nodded in understanding.</p>
<p>"What else?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"One more thing, though this might be something you have mixed feelings about." Novu said.</p>
<p>"And that would be?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"When I found the new book of destiny and tome of the guardians of this new universe, I learned of a change made to the paragons. A new individual has become the paragon of truth." Novu said.</p>
<p>"Who is it?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"A man who has devoted his life to pursuing and exposing the truth. Even though he has gone about it in strange and incorrect ways." Novu said.</p>
<p>"Wait, you don't mean?" Barry asked as Novu waved his hand and a familiar person appeared.</p>
<p>"Say hello to the new Paragon of truth." Novu said.</p>
<p>"Allen." Harrison Nash Wells said.</p>
<p>"Nash you son of a bitch. You're the reason the Anti Monitor is a threat in the first place." Barry said angrily.</p>
<p>"I know. And I know that there's nothing I can say to justify what I did, but maybe this is how I serve my penance for it." Nash said as Barry took a deep breath.</p>
<p>"You're lucky I believe in second chances. But if you screw up again, there will not be a third. You caused the deaths of trillions of innocent lives. You can never fully make up for it." Barry said and Nash sighed.</p>
<p>"I know. But please, let me try. Let me try to fix what I broke." Nash said.</p>
<p>"You can never fix it, the damage is done. But I will give you a chance to keep it from happening again. Besides, Team Flash is always at it's best when we have a Harrison Wells to back us up. Just don't blow it. Now come on, we need to let the team know about this. And just to be clear, you are not working alone anymore, you are part of a team." Barry said.</p>
<p>"That is part of why I am bringing him here now. In order to prevent Mobius from succeeding, the paragons need to be able to work together in sync, a skill that Nash clearly needs help refining." Novu said.</p>
<p>"On that we agree. Thank you for the warning and I promise we will wait until you bring us together to tell the other teams." Barry said and Novu nodded as he disappeared.</p>
<p>"Don't make me regret giving you another chance. Because there are people who are a lot less forgiving than I am who'd love to get their hands on you and I'm probably the only person who can protect you from them. Now come on, let's go tell the team you're back and try to keep them from killing you." Barry said as he dragged Nash out of the cortex before he could respond.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0034"><h2>34. Chapter 34</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>To say Team Flash was surprised to see Nash standing in the Cortex with Barry was an understatement.</p>
<p>"What the hell is he doing here?" Cisco asked, preparing to blast him.</p>
<p>"Novu brought him here, saying that apparently the crisis Nash here started isn't over and he's now one of the Paragons who will help us stop it from destroying the universe again." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Great. Well I guess since he broke it, it's only right that he helps to fix it." Caitlin said.</p>
<p>"Yeah, but first, anyone who wants a shot at him, please take it." Barry said as Cisco then proceeded to vibe blast Nash, followed quickly by an ice blast from Frost.</p>
<p>"Seriously?" Nash complained.</p>
<p>"Consider yourself lucky neither of us were aiming to kill you after all the deaths you caused. You may not be controlled by the Anti Monitor anymore, but until you show us why we should give a damn about you, you'll always be a pariah." Cisco said as he walked away and Frost followed him.</p>
<p>"Anyone else want to take a shot?" Nash asked.</p>
<p>"Can I?" Allegra asked Iris and Barry.</p>
<p>"Normally I'd say no, but since he is the one who's responsible for the end of the multiverse, one blast and nothing lethal." Iris said and Barry nodded his consent and Allegra looked thrilled before blasting Nash with a slightly weaker version of the UV blast she'd used to cure the city of Bloodwork's infection in the old universe.</p>
<p>"Nice shot. I see target practice is going well." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Yep. He's just lucky I didn't blast him with the amount of UV radiation I used to cure the city of Bloodwork's infection." Allegra said.</p>
<p>"Barely." Nash said as he managed to get up.</p>
<p>"I believe you have schoolwork to do now young lady. Go find Cisco and ask him to breach you home and remind him to hurry up with the extrapolators so that we don't have to use him as a breach service." Iris said and Allegra nodded and headed out.</p>
<p>"Okay then, I guess everyone's gotten a shot in at me. So are we good." Nash asked.</p>
<p>"Actually, I'm going to do us all a favor." Iris said.</p>
<p>"What do you mean?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"I mean Nash likes exploring so much, I'm gonna let him explore a universe where he's the only inhabitant for a few hours." Iris said and before anyone could saything, Iris pushed Nash into a mirror.</p>
<p>"Did you just send Nash into the mirrorverse?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"New trick I've been working on. I figure this way he's in a kind of prison for what he did and he gets to do some exploring." Iris said.</p>
<p>"You can bring him back right?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"That part is a little trickier, but I can do, the hardest part is finding him in the mirrorverse, since I actually have to go in and get him, but once I find him, getting out is just as easy as getting in. I don't know what Thawne was talking about, but honestly, entering and leaving the mirrorverse is about as easy for me as entering and leaving the speed force is for you." Iris said.</p>
<p>"That's weird. But anyways, as long as you're sure, then maybe some time in solitary confinement will do Nash some good." Barry said and Iris nodded.</p>
<p>"Now, Allegra isn't the only one with work to do. We still have a few more details to work out for our wedding, including having Cisco rig up a babel forcefield to keep unwanted guests out this time." Iris said.</p>
<p>"You know, I think Star Labs could probably make a fortune selling that tech to the military." Barry said thoughtfully.</p>
<p>"Definitely. And honestly, there's a lot of other tech Team Flash has developed over the years that could be repurposed. I mean that cold gun tech could be the future of firefighting." Iris said and Barry chuckled.</p>
<p>"I'll talk to Cisco about that, though you might be onto something." Barry agreed as they headed home to finish planning their wedding.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0035"><h2>35. Chapter 35</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Hey, what's going on here?" Caitlin asked as she entered Cisco's lab to find Barry and Cisco talking.</p>
<p>"We're talking about maybe selling versions of some of our Team Flash tech." Cisco said.</p>
<p>"Really, like what?" Caitin asked.</p>
<p>"Well, I'm sure the DEO and Argus for starters would be interested in the babel protocol tech, especially the force field tech in it." Barry said and Caitlin nodded.</p>
<p>"I'm sure several other government agencies around the world would also be interested in that." Caitlin said.</p>
<p>"We're also thinking about mass producing a non weaponized version of the cold gun tech to replace hoses for firefighters." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Huh, not a bad idea. Man, there is a lot of tech we've developed over the years that could we make a decent profit off of." Caitlin said.</p>
<p>"Yeah, exactly. Hey, what happened to Nash by the way?" Cisco asked.</p>
<p>"Iris sent into the mirrorverse for a few hours. Figured he'd enjoy some time in isolation and after what he did, we can consider that a part of his punishment." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Fine by me. He's the one Wells I was hoping would not make it to this earth." Cisco said.</p>
<p>"Still no luck finding any of the others?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"Nope. As far as I can tell, Nash is the only real Wells on this earth now." Cisco said.</p>
<p>"Anyways, Cisco, I need you to breach me somewhere." Caitlin said.</p>
<p>"Okay where?" Cisco asked and Caitlin took a deep breath.</p>
<p>"The north pole and no I'm not going hunting for Santa." Caitlin said and both Barry and Cisco chuckled before realizing why she'd want to go there.</p>
<p>"Are you sure about this?" Cisco asked.</p>
<p>"I need to know if he really is still alive in his universe and if he is, then maybe if I can get a blood sample from him while he's fully transformed into Icicle, maybe I can make a cure for him." Caitlin said.</p>
<p>"Like how Julian did for you." Cisco said.</p>
<p>"Yes, except the cure I create will be permanent." Caitlin said.</p>
<p>"Then maybe you should consider reaching out to your mom for help on it. After all, I seem to recall that two of you were on the road to recovery before Crisis, so maybe you should try to do that earlier now." Cisco said.</p>
<p>"Well, it couldn't hurt. But it would be easier if mom remembered everything." Caitlin said.</p>
<p>"Wait, you want to restore your mom's memories?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"Yeah I do. Honestly, the fastest way my mom and I can create a cure for my dad is if we're not at each other's throats." Caitlin said and Barry and Cisco nodded.</p>
<p>"Wait, do you think that the meta human cure would work on him?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"I don't think so. That cure was designed for dark matter based mutations, which Icicle is not." Cisco said.</p>
<p>"So, how'd you like the mirrorverse?" Iris asked Nash as she pulled him out of it.</p>
<p>"I think I've learned my lesson about just jumping to conclusions." Nash said.</p>
<p>"Good, because next time we send you to an alternate world, you're not coming back from it." Iris said.</p>
<p>"Understood." Nash said as Barry approached them.</p>
<p>"You learn your lesson that some myths are best left that way?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"I have. And I'm sure you'll be eager to hear that I'm going to leave for awhile."  Nash said.</p>
<p>"What do you mean?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"I want to do some exploring of this new earth, see what else has changed. It couldn't hurt to know how. Also, who knows, maybe I'll find some redemption for my past out there." Nash said and Barry actually felt a little sorry for the guy.</p>
<p>"Nash, don't." Barry said.</p>
<p>"What?" Nash asked.</p>
<p>"Redemption isn't something you can find out there, it's something you have to earn and the way you do that is by staying here and helping the team." Barry said.</p>
<p>"How?" Nash asked and Barry sighed.</p>
<p>"Look, as much as I hate to admit it, this team has never felt whole without a Wells. And considering the fact that not only are you the only Wells we have access to anymore, but you've also probably got experience with things we don't know about considering how much time you spent travelling the multiverse. It couldn't hurt to have you around." Barry said.</p>
<p>"I'll think about it." Nash said as he walked away from them.</p>
<p>"So, you think he'll come around?" Iris asked.</p>
<p>"I think that Harry and Sherloque were both loners before they met us and that changed. I think that Nash will come around, but he just needs a little time, which hopefully, we'll be able to give him." Barry said and Iris nodded.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0036"><h2>36. Chapter 36</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Thanks for letting me shadow you Iris." Thea said as she entered the Central City office of Danvers Daily News.</p>
<p>"My pleasure. After all, we're all part of Team Danvers now." Iris said.</p>
<p>"And you're sure you're not disappointed that Kara's the big boss now instead of you?" Thea teased, since even though she'd been overseas when Iris had opened the Central City Citizen, she'd heard about it.</p>
<p>"Honestly, the only thing that's changed is that now I report to Kara and she handles more of the major decisions. Though that does mean that she gets first dibs on the best stories like that one regarding the ASA." Iris said.</p>
<p>"Yeah, you're not bitter about that at all." Thea said with a chuckle.</p>
<p>"Anyways, I was kind of surprised you wanted to get into journalism. I thought you'd prefer a career path where if people piss you off, you can handle it the same way your brother does." Iris said.</p>
<p>"Ollie doesn't do that to everyone who pisses him off. Just the people who deserve it." Thea said and Iris just chuckled.</p>
<p>"Relax, I'm messing with you, but still." Iris said.</p>
<p>"Yeah, I can't say I saw myself going into this line of work, but then again, I don't think anyone in my family could've seen us taking the career paths we did." Thea said.</p>
<p>"That is true. Never thought I'd see the day that Oliver Queen ran for mayor." Iris said and Thea laughed.</p>
<p>"Tell me about it. But he did a good job before Diaz got him impeached." Thea said.</p>
<p>"True. Anyways, you sure that you want to be a newspaper editor?" Iris asked.</p>
<p>"Actually, part of the reason I was hoping to talk to Kara was because I was hoping that maybe instead of the Star City branch being another newspaper, maybe it could be a news station for TV." Thea said and Iris actually looked intrigued.</p>
<p>"Not a bad idea. I'm surprised Kara didn't think of that herself, since let's face it, more people watch TV a lot more often than they read the paper." Iris said.</p>
<p>"Plus, I may have a personal reason for it to." Thea said.</p>
<p>"Really, and what might that be?" Iris asked.</p>
<p>"You and Kara are probably the only reporters I trust." Thea said.</p>
<p>"Really, why?" Iris asked.</p>
<p>"One of Ollie's ex-girlfriends was a reporter, Susan Williams. And before you get started, this was after the island. In fact, it was the year Prometheus came into our lives." Thea said.</p>
<p>"What happened?" Iris asked.</p>
<p>"She played about Quentin being hired as Deputy Mayor and then she actually manipulated Oliver into dating her, just so she could get evidence and expose him as the Green Arrow. I mean, she came to her senses and ditched the story in the end, but still." Thea said.</p>
<p>"Okay, I understand why you hate her." Iris said.</p>
<p>"Yeah. So honestly, I kind of want to beat her at her own game. I know that sounds childish, but." Thea said.</p>
<p>"No, I get it, if a woman did that to Wally or Barry, I'd probably do something similar. But, in the meantime, why don't we get started so that in the bizarre event Kara says no, which I can't imagine she would, since opening a TV station would only increase our profits, but if she does say no, we should make sure you're prepared to run a newspaper." Iris said and Thea nodded.</p>
<p>"Jefferson, we weren't expecting you here." Barry said as Jefferson Pierce entered the Nexus.</p>
<p>"Jen's visiting Khalil and I thought I'd tag along. Damn, your new base of operations is a lot nicer than mine." Jefferson said and Barry smiled.</p>
<p>"Your base is nice, it's homey." Barry said.</p>
<p>"Maybe, but I wish we had the room to train that you do." Jefferson said.</p>
<p>"Anyways, what brings you here?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"I'm here because I need your help." Jefferson asked.</p>
<p>"With what?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"Do you remember when we showed you that briefcase from the ASA?" Jefferson asked.</p>
<p>"You mean the one that exposed their operations, yeah, why?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"Because it revealed that the government's metahuman operation didn't start here in the states, it started in Markovia." Jefferson said.</p>
<p>"What are you talking about?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"On my old earth, there was war brewing between the ASA and Markovia." Jefferson said.</p>
<p>"Why?" Barry asked.</p>
<p>"Because both sides had metahumans in pods and were trying to develop a serum to allow them to stabilize and weaponize their metas. We saved Freeland's metas, but Markovia." Jefferson said.</p>
<p>"Okay, it's clear we should talk with the rest of my team." Barry said and Jefferson nodded in agreement.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0037"><h2>37. Chapter 37</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After Jefferson left Star Labs, Barry decided to call in all of Team Flash, even making Iris pull Nash out of the Mirrorverse, since she'd left him in there for far longer than a few hours. More like a few days.</p><p>"Thank you for finally getting me out of there. It was fun exploring that mirrorverse, but the third day of complete isolation is when it got to be a bit much." Nash said to Iris.</p><p>"Well, now you've learned your lesson haven't you?" Iris asked.</p><p>"Yep, I promise from now on, I won't just search for the truth. I'll consider all possibilities before I do anything too reckless." Nash said.</p><p>"Good boy. Now let's go see why Allen is calling this team meeting about." Nash said and Iris nodded as they headed towards the Cortex to find Barry, Cisco, Caitlin, Ralph, Jesse, Joe, Cecille and Allegra waiting.</p><p>"What's going on?" Iris asked as Barry brought the rest of the team up to date on what Jefferson told them.</p><p>"So, you think the Markovians are going to come after Caitlin?" Joe said.</p><p>"Jefferson nearly guaranteed it, since Caitlin is the one who knows the most about the current stabilization cure, which the markovians will likely use to stabilize and weaponize their own metas." Barry said.</p><p>"And you want to let them take her?" Iris asked.</p><p>"Not so much we want to, but strategically, it's the smartest play. We want to rescue those metas, we need a way to expose Markovia that will also give us their location. Kidnapping a high profile American scientist with no cause qualifies." Cisco said.</p><p>"And it would make a great story. Kara isn't involved in this is she?" Iris asked.</p><p>"No, she's not. We've already decided that having capes involved in this operation is too risky. Superman and Supergirl are too well known globally to be able to pull this off." Barry said.</p><p>"So, how are we going to pull this off?" Ralph asked.</p><p>"I'm gonna check with Lyla, bring her up to speed on the situation, since I'm sure Oliver will be just as interested in this as we are, not to mention, she can likely get us more intel to help us make a plan for this." Barry said and they all nodded, but before anyone could say anything else, they heard the familiar sound of a speedster running as they saw a streak of yellow lightning running around them before it came to a stop to reveal a familiar face.</p><p>"Miss me?" Wally West asked with a grin.</p><p>"Wally." Joe said with a grin as he moved to hug his son.</p><p>"Hey dad." Wally said as he then moved on to hug Iris.</p><p>"Is mom with you?" Iris asked.</p><p>"No, she's still in Keystone, she doesn't even know I'm here, but I do have good news." Wally said.</p><p>"What?" Iris asked.</p><p>"Mom will live long enough to be at your wedding this time around." Wally said.</p><p>"What do you mean?" Iris asked.</p><p>"Rip gave me something that cured mom's macgregor's syndrome. Not that she actually knows it, since we decided that she couldn't be reminded of the old world." Wally said as he then hugged Barry.</p><p>"Guess I need to pay her a visit." Iris said.</p><p>"I guess you do." Wally agreed as he then noticed Jesse.</p><p>"Jesse." Wally said awkwardly.</p><p>"Hey Wally." Jesse said, remembering how they left things.</p><p>"Look Jesse, I hope you know that we're not getting back together." Wally said and Jesse sighed in relief.</p><p>"I'm glad we're on the same page and we couldn't be together now even if we wanted to be." Jesse said.</p><p>"What do you mean?" Wally asked.</p><p>"Your sister is marrying my brother." Jesse said.</p><p>"Wait, you and Barry are siblings now?" Wally asked.</p><p>"Yeah, it's another change in this world, but I couldn't ask for a better little sister, especially since it's thanks to her that Iris and I have been together since high school in this reality." Barry said and Wally smiled.</p><p>"Guess we're gonna be family after all sis." Wally said and Jesse smiled as she held out her hand, which Wally shook.</p><p>"So, you here to stay?" Joe asked his son.</p><p>"No actually, I'm still helping the Legends, but since a team was coming to the present anyways, I asked Sara if I could tag along so I could officially see you guys again. Also, I need something from Cisco." Wally said.</p><p>"Barry, would you mind?" Cisco asked and Barry nodded as he sped out of the cortex quickly and then returned, tossing Wally a ring as he did.</p><p>"Are you serious?" Wally asked with a grin.</p><p>"Yep and that is not the only one." Barry said as he came to a stop and produced 2 more rings, one with a canary insignia and one with a star insignia.</p><p>"One for Sara and one for Nate, since the other Legends don't have and don't want costumes and Ray's suit shrinks on its own." Cisco said as Wally took them.</p><p>"I'll make sure they get them. But, I've got some time before I need to get back to the ship, so why don't we catch up a bit." Wally said and and everyone seemed on board with that plan as they headed towards the lounge.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0038"><h2>38. Chapter 38</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Caitlin was sitting at a table in a restaurant, checking her watch for the fifth time and groaned when she saw that the person she was supposed to be meeting still had not arrived.</p><p>She's not going to show . Frost said in her head again.</p><p>"I'm starting to think you're right. She was supposed to meet me here half an hour ago. I'll give her another few minutes before I call Cisco and ask him to meet me here, since there is no sense in wasting a reservation." Caitlin said.</p><p>My thoughts exactly Caity. Frost said, right as the person they were waiting for arrived.</p><p>"Sorry I'm late. Something came up at the lab." Carla Tannhauser said as she sat down across from her daughter.</p><p>"Sure it did. If you didn't want to meet with me, you could've just said so." Caitlin said.</p><p>"Caitlin, can we just skip the insults and get to the point of why you asked to see me." Carla asked and Caitlin sighed.</p><p>"I wanted to bury the hatchet between us." Caitlin said.</p><p>"Wait, what?" Carla asked.</p><p>"Mom, I know the truth about dad. About his icy problem." Caitlin said.</p><p>"What are you talking about?" Carla asked.</p><p>"Mom, I know about Icicle." Caitlin said.</p><p>"How?" Carla asked.</p><p>"Because I have my own version of him. Frost." Caitlin said and Carla sighed.</p><p>"I should've known that was you running around the city shooting ice as criminals." Carla said.</p><p>"Technically, that's not me, Frost is her own person, we just share a body and we both agreed that since dad is a lunatic right now, we want to have a better relationship with our mom." Caitlin said.</p><p>"So, Frost is a good guy." Carla asked.</p><p>"Good might be an oversimplification, but she's not a sociopath. Anymore." Caitlin said.</p><p>Hey, I was manipulated by Savitar when that happened, and you can't deny that you didn't deserve to be forced into the backseat for a while like you did me. And you got out a lot sooner than I did. Frost defended herself and Caitlin rolled her eyes.</p><p>"You know what, I'm not even going to ask." Carla said.</p><p>"Thank you. I admit, when Frost first showed up, I was terrified of her, since unlike most meta powers, she came with her own personality and I was terrified that she was going to take over. It took some time for us to realize that Caitlin and Frost are just two sides of the same person and now we're practically sisters. It's just too bad that our powers only work when she's in control." Caitlin said.</p><p>"Well, it's nice to know that at least you have a nice relationship with your icy half." Carla said.</p><p>"But mom, I think that if we put our heads together, we can find a cure for dad." Caitlin said.</p><p>"Maybe. But that would imply us being able to work together in any cohesive way for a long period of time. Something that isn't exactly our strong suit." Carla said.</p><p>"I know and I also know that a large part of that is on me. After I thought dad died, I pushed you away. And I'm sorry." Caitlin said and Carla was shocked for a minute before nodding.</p><p>"And I suppose I wasn't the easiest person to get along with after your father died. I threw myself into my work and I didn't stop you from pushing me away. The harder you pushed, the tighter I should've held you." Carla said.</p><p>"Let's agree that we both made mistakes." Caitlin said and Carla nodded her agreement.</p><p>"Clean slate?" Carla asked and Caitlin smiled.</p><p>"Clean slate. And Frost agrees too, even though you never met her." Caitlin said and Carla sighed.</p><p>"I do want to meet her, since like you said, she is my daughter too." Carla said and Caitlin smiled.</p><p>"She says she'd like that, though she wonders if maybe you have an ice persona too that she can call mom." Caitlin said and Carla actually laughed.</p><p>"Not that I know of. I'm pretty sure that Frost is entirely your father's creation, though hopefully she'll take more after me than him." Carla said.</p><p>"I think she will. And she's not the only important person in my life I want you to meet." Caitlin said.</p><p>"Wait Caity, do you have a boyfriend?" Carla asked and Caitlin nodded.</p><p>"His name is Cisco Ramon, he works with me at Star Labs and in addition to being my boyfriend, he's also my best friend. I'm honestly not sure how we never realized just how much we cared about each other for as long as we did." Caitlin said.</p><p>"I look forward to meeting him. Wait, he's not a janitor is he?" Carla asked with a smile and Caitlin laughed.</p><p>"No, he's the head of R&amp;D and head engineer of Star Labs." Caitlin said.</p><p>"I like him already." Carla said as they continued talking.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0039"><h2>39. Chapter 29</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"I have to admit, I was surprised when I found that you guys weren't at Star Labs, but instead the place was actually under renovation. It's just lucky I was able to track Barry's speed force signature to this new place." Wally said as he, Barry, Iris, Joe, Jesse and Cecille all sat in the lounge of the Nexus.</p><p>"We call this place the Nexus. We moved our base of operations here because we're reopening Star Labs to the public as an actual laboratory." Bary said.</p><p>"Not a museum?" Wally asked with a grin and Barry chuckled.</p><p>"HR's heart was in the right place, but I think that Star Labs is better suited to be an actual laboratory instead of a museum. You interested in an engineering job?" Barry asked.</p><p>"Maybe someday, but right now I need to honor my commitment to the Legends." Wally said.</p><p>"What are they doing in the present anyways?" Iris asked.</p><p>"Technically, not all of them are. The only Legends in the present aside from myself are Snart and Charlie." Wally said.</p><p>"What is Snart stealing?" Barry asked.</p><p>"The fire totem from the Detroit museum, since honestly, that thing should not be in a museum anyways, it belongs to the people of Zambezi. But first, we need it to help defeat a time demon." Wally said.</p><p>"Okay, I can understand that. Surprised Mick isn't involved in it though." Barry asked.</p><p>"That's because he's on a mission to meet Blackbeard." Wally said.</p><p>"You know what, I'm not even going to ask." Joe said.</p><p>"Probably a smart idea." Wally said.</p><p>"I'm just curious, but does your mother know what you're doing?" Cecille asked.</p><p>"No and we can't restore her memories." Wally said.</p><p>"Why not?" Iris asked.</p><p>"The way Rip explained it was that the memory gun works by essentially tearing down a mental wall that blocks a person's mind from being able to remember the old reality. Our experiences from the old reality have made all of us strong enough to be able to handle the break, to normal people like mom, tearing down that wall could drive her insane." Wally said.</p><p>"Okay then, so we don't tell her. But what does mom think you're doing?" Iris asked.</p><p>"She thinks I finally went off to college, since she knows that the only reason I didn't go to college was so that I could take care of her, but now that she's recovering." Wally said.</p><p>"Maybe you should tell her a version of the truth." Barry said.</p><p>"What do you mean?" Wally asked.</p><p>"I think your mom will get suspicious when she can't find any records of you being at a school. So instead tell her that you found out the truth about Joe and Iris and came here to get to know them and by extension, Jesse, Cecille and I and then tell her that you got a job offer for Star Labs, which is true, and that's why you've been out of reach." Barry said.</p><p>"Not a bad idea Barry." Wally said.</p><p>"I have my moments." Barry said.</p><p>"Might as well do that now, since right now she and I are still legally married, so it's best to get that handled." Joe said and Cecille nodded her agreement.</p><p>"And I think I owe mom a conversation if I want her to be at the wedding." Iris said.</p><p>"You want me to come with you?" Barry asked.</p><p>"Thank you Barry, but no. We'll be fine." Iris said.</p><p>"And we should probably get going so that we can get this over with before Sara comes after me for not being back on the ship." Wally said and Joe and Iris both nodded.</p><p>"Hey mom." Wally said as he entered the house.</p><p>"Hello Wally. Is there something you want to tell me. Like why there are no records of you enrolling in any school?" Francine asked him.</p><p>"Actually mom, I think you're the one who owes me an explanation." Wally said.</p><p>"Really, for what?" Francine asked, only to stop short when she sees who came into the house with Wally.</p><p>"Hi mom." Iris said as she and Joe made themselves known.</p><p>"Joe. Iris." Francine said.</p><p>"I think we've got a lot to talk about don't we." Joe said and Francine nodded, knowing that she owed her husband and daughter some answers.</p><p>"Why don't we head into the living room to talk." Francine said.</p>
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<a name="section0040"><h2>40. Chapter 40</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"So, you've been in Central City all this time." Francine said.</p><p>"Yeah. After I found out about Dad and Iris, I decided I wanted to meet them and get to know them, since you kept me in the dark about them for so long. Iris's fiance even offered me a job at Star Labs, which is what I've been doing." Wally said.</p><p>"How did you even find out about them?" Francine asked.</p><p>"I found some old pictures of you with dad and Iris before I was born. I did some additional digging which led me to discover a detective Joe West in Central City, so I went to investigate and found out I had a father and a sister." Wally said.</p><p>"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about them." Francine said.</p><p>"Why didn't you tell me about them?" Wally asked as both Joe and Iris also looked curious about her answer.</p><p>"Because I was a coward. I didn't want to tell you because I knew you'd want to meet them and I didn't want to have to face them." Francine said, much to her shame.</p><p>"Hey, you're not the only one who spent years avoiding this confrontation. I could've found you if I really wanted to, but I didn't. I was so angry at you when you left, not for leaving me, but for leaving Iris, that I thought good riddance. I wasn't going to keep searching for someone who clearly didn't want to be found and didn't want to be a part of our family." Joe said.</p><p>"Joe, it's not that I didn't want to be a part of our family, it tore me apart to leave." Francine said.</p><p>"Then why did you do it?" Joe asked.</p><p>"Because you and Iris deserved better than what I could give you." Francine said.</p><p>"But shouldn't that have changed after I was born?" Wally asked.</p><p>"I wanted to tell you, but honestly, I was afraid." Francine said.</p><p>"Of what?" Iris asked.</p><p>"That Joe would take Wally away from me, since he's clearly better suited to be a parent than I was and I selfishly did not want to give Wally up." Francine said.</p><p>"Francine, I would've never kept either of our children from you. While yes, I may have insisted that they both live with me full time, it would've only been because you needed help, help that I didn't think you'd be able to get if you were raising a child, but I'd still let you be a part of their lives." Joe said.</p><p>"I know, but selfishly, I just wanted to keep Wally to myself and I'm sorry for that. I always intended for Wally to meet you, the more time that passed, the harder going back to Central City became." Francine said.</p><p>"I can understand that. But we do have some things we need to get figured out while we're here. Specifically, these." Joe said as he pulled out an envelope and handed it to her.</p><p>"Divorce papers." Francine said and Joe nodded.</p><p>"I already signed them and I had the DA in Central City look over them. She's going to make sure that neither of us owe each other any money, maintain a mutually similar arrangement that we've had so far, except now the kids know about each other." Joe said.</p><p>"Really." Francine asked and Joe nodded.</p><p>"Thank you." Francine said.</p><p>"So, how long are you here for?" Francine asked.</p><p>"I have actually got to go, since my boss will kill me if I'm gone any longer." Wally said.</p><p>"Well, just try to call home a little more frequently Wally, I was worried about you." Francine said and Wally nodded in agreement before heading out.</p><p>"What about you two?" Francine asked.</p><p>"We have a few days, since I was hoping to get to know my mom." Iris said with a slight smile, since that was honestly something that she'd never truly gotten to do the first time around, but now that it looked like her mother was going to live a long, healthy life, there was no reason for her not to try and form a relationship with her, even if it was only a friendship.</p><p>"I'd love nothing more." Francine said with a smile as they continued talking.</p>
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<a name="section0041"><h2>41. Chapter 41</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Barry was starting to get concerned. It had been weeks and no one had seen or heard from Ralph. While normally he wouldn't be so concerned, thinking that Ralph was just working a case like he had been the Sue Dearbon case in the old universe, but right now, DeVoe was still a factor and while Ralph was no longer a bus meta and as far as Barry knew, none of the bus metas had been created, he also knew that Ralph's powers would still be useful in DeVoe's plot.</p><p>"Barry, is everything alright?" Caitlin asked as she and Cisco entered the Nexus's cortex to find him just staring at the monitors.</p><p>"Ralph's missing. It's been weeks and we haven't heard from him." Barry said.</p><p>"So, he's probably just working a case." Cisco said.</p><p>"And I'd agree with you if DeVoe wasn't still a factor." Barry said.</p><p>"Barry, Ralph isn't a bus meta, which means that DeVoe has no reason to seek his powers." Caitlin said.</p><p>"Maybe, but I'd rather not take the chance." Barry said.</p><p>"Well, there is one way to find out where Ralph is." Cisco said.</p><p>"Just another reason to be glad you have your powers back." Barry said.</p><p>"I need something to vibe off of." Cisco said and Barry sped off and returned within a second with a very familiar book in his arms.</p><p>"The book of Ralph?" Caitlin asked, slightly amused.</p><p>"I think that if there's anything Ralph owns that could be used to vibe him, it's this." Barry said and Cisco nodded his agreement as he took the book in his arms and vibed, however, what he saw was not what he expected.</p><p>"Whoa, what's going on here?" Cisco asked as he stood in his vibe, but he couldn't see Ralph anywhere.</p><p>"Sorry to disappoint you Mr. Ramon, but I'm afraid that Mr. Dibny is quite lost to you at the moment." A terribly familiar voice said and Cisco turned to see DeVoe actually standing there in front of him.</p><p>"How is this possible?" Cisco asked.</p><p>"Please Mr. Ramon. If Gorilla Grodd's intellect was not affected by the merging of the multiverse, did you honestly expect it to affect mine?" DeVoe asked.</p><p>"But we beat you? You were already dead before the Crisis." Cisco said.</p><p>"True, but when I received my intelligence on this earth, it also transferred my consciousness from the old reality into this one." DeVoe said.</p><p>"Wonderful." Cisco said.</p><p>"Yes, and now, I believe this Q&amp;A session is over." DeVoe said, cutting off the vibe abruptly.</p><p>Both Barry and Caitlin were concerned when they saw Cisco get thrown across the room, especially since it confirmed their fears.</p><p>"Cisco, are you okay?" Caitlin asked as she and Barry helped him up.</p><p>"I'm better than Ralph is." Cisco said.</p><p>"So DeVoe does have him." Barry said.</p><p>"It's worse than that Barry, DeVoe knew who I was. As in the old reality." Cisco said.</p><p>"Wait what?" Barry asked.</p><p>"I guess that when the lightning struck his thinking cap, it didn't just give him super intelligence, it gave his memories of the old reality." Cisco said.</p><p>"Well, Grodd's intelligence allowed him to retain his memories despite crisis and DeVoe was just as if not smarter than him. I guess it's possible that DeVoe's intelligence transferred here too." Caitlin said.</p><p>"Great, like having the Thawne from the old multiverse wasn't enough to deal with, now we have to deal with DeVoe too?" Barry said.</p><p>"Hey, you don't think Novu might've had something to do with this do you? You know, his intelligence being deemed useful to stop crisis." Caitlin said.</p><p>"If he is, then I'll take him down along with DeVoe." Barry said.</p><p>"That will not be necessary Barry Allen." Novu said as he appeared out of nowhere.</p><p>"Did you have anything to do with DeVoe regaining his memories?" Barry asked.</p><p>"No I did not, though I do not blame you for making that assumption. While Clifford DeVoe's intelligence may have come in handy, I have only restored the minds of those who will be needed in Crisis. The greatest heroes. And his existence actually threatens one of them." Novu said.</p><p>"Ralph." Barry said and Novu nodded.</p><p>"You will need every asset you can get in this fight, including the Elongated Man. I swear I had nothing to do with the return of your DeVoe, especially since between you three, Jesse Allen, Felicity Smoak, Winn Schott, Querl Dox, Lena Luthor, Alex Danvers, Harrison Nash Wells, Luke Fox, Ray Palmer, Martin Stein, Lily Stein, Zari Tarazi, Ryan Choi, Behrad Tarazi, Lynn Stewart and Peter Gambi, there is already more than enough brainpower to help with Crisis without him." Novu said and Barry nodded.</p><p>"I just needed to be sure that you had nothing to do with this." Barry said.</p><p>"Believe it or not Barry Allen, I am not a god, I cannot control everything on this planet." Novu said.</p><p>"Well can you erase DeVoe's memories?" Cisco asked.</p><p>"I'm afraid not, for I'm afraid that I cannot alter the timeline, since I believe that this was meant to be a trial for you to help you prepare for Crisis when Mobius returns." Novu said.</p><p>"Speaking of, do you have any ideas on when exactly that will be?" Barry asked.</p><p>"I do not. However, I do have some advice to offer you to help prepare." Novu said.</p><p>"And that would be?" Barry asked.</p><p>"While I cannot see it clearly, I can tell that the heroes you know of on this planet will not be the only ones in existence. In addition to its heroes from the previous universe, this world will give birth to its own heroes and when these heroes make themselves known, you must be ready to find them to bring them into the fight." Novu said.</p><p>"Any suggestions on where to start with that?" Barry asked, only for Novu to vanish on them.</p><p>"Great. That's just great. He was about as helpful as ever." Cisco said.</p><p>"Come on, we have a lot to do, so let's get started." Barry said and they nodded in agreement.</p><p>"So, where should we start?" Cisco asked.</p><p>"We track down Marlize and restore her memories, since I'm sure that DeVoe will likely try to keep her from remembering, since she left him before. Once we figure out how to save her from him, we can bring her back into the fold and she can help us stop him again." Barry said.</p><p>"We should call the others and get them here now." Caitlin said.</p><p>"Do it." Barry said, knowing that they've got their work cut out for them.</p>
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<a name="section0042"><h2>42. Chapter 42</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"So, we've jumped from Thawne straight to DeVoe. Not sure if that's a good thing that we don't have to deal with Zoom and Savitar, or a bad thing that DeVoe jumped the line." Iris said after Barry had brought her, Joe, Jesse, Cecille, Nash and Allegra up to speed on what was going on.</p><p>"I'm going with a bad thing since DeVoe is a similar situation as Thawne, since his intelligence restored his mind from before Crisis." Cisco said as he worked on the computers.</p><p>"What are you doing? You know that we won't be able to find him via satellite?" Joe asked Cisco.</p><p>"I'm not looking for him, I'm looking for Marlize. Part of our plan to deal with DeVoe is to find and restore Marlize's mind to get her to help us stop him again." Cisco said.</p><p>"And you really think he's going to let you find her? If DeVoe has his memories of the old world, then don't you think he'd likely have already found and hidden Marlize away where we can't find her?" Cecille asked.</p><p>"Actually, he hasn't. First thing I did was hack into court records and apparently, they never got married, since in this universe, Marlize never went back to him after she left him the first time." Cisco said.</p><p>"Then how did he get the thinking cap? Last time I checked, non-thinker DeVoe was no mechanical genius." Joe asked.</p><p>"We don't know, but we do know that Marlize was not with him. However, he'll likely track her down, if only to prevent her from being able to help us again." Caitlin said.</p><p>"So, how do we find her? I'm assuming that DeVoe wouldn't make it as simple as vibing her." Jesse asked.</p><p>"Knowing him, most likely not. But finding Marlize is just one part of our plan." Barry said.</p><p>"What else are you doing?" Allegra asked.</p><p>"Jesse, Nash, you two and Cisco are the best mechanical brains we have, since Caitlin's more biology, no offense." Barry said.</p><p>"None taken, you're right." Caitlin said.</p><p>"Yeah, so?" Jesse asked.</p><p>"I want you two to help Cisco see if you can modify our extrapolator tech to be able to access a pocket dimension, since that's how we get to DeVoe's lair." Barry said.</p><p>"We're on it." Jesse said and Nash nodded in agreement.</p><p>"I'm gonna restore Chester's memories too, since he'll be helpful in that too, considering the man built an alien translator that actually created a blackhole out of garbage." Cisco said.</p><p>"Do it. The more brain power we have the better." Barry said and Cisco nodded in agreement.</p><p>"What about the metahuman cure?" Iris asked.</p><p>"Not until I can find a way to reverse it, since if DeVoe gets his hands on it, he can take away all our powers, which means that we need a way to reverse it." Cisco said.</p><p>"But we do need to start working on it in case we can't stop DeVoe from inadvertently creating Cicada." Caitlin said.</p><p>"Wait, maybe that's exactly what we need." Allegra said.</p><p>"What are you talking about?" Barry asked his foster daughter.</p><p>"You said that the reason Cicada was such a problem is because his dagger could dampen other metas powers. Well, what if we could use the dagger to dampen DeVoe's powers, since power dampeners don't work on meta tech." Allegra said.</p><p>"It's a decent plan." Barry admitted.</p><p>"The only way to create the dagger is to let DeVoe set off the enlightenment." Iris said.</p><p>"She's right, the only way that plan would work would be if Cicada's original dagger still existed, but we blasted it to atoms." Cisco said, right as Iris had a thought.</p><p>"What if we didn't." Iris said.</p><p>"What do you mean?" Jesse asked.</p><p>"I remember watching the mirror gun blast. It looked a lot like the way my powers work." Iris said.</p><p>"Wait, you think that instead of destroying the dagger like we thought, the mirror gun sent it to the mirrorverse?" Barry asked.</p><p>"I think it's worth checking. I mean, from what I can tell from all the times I've been there, it looks like the mirrorverse was one of the few places that wasn't affected by crisis." Iris said.</p><p>"Okay then, you up for an extended trip to the mirrorverse?" Barry asked his fiance.</p><p>"Actually, it might not take as long as you think. My powers are growing. The portals I open, they're getting more specific. When I first got my powers, whenever I'd enter the mirrorverse, I'd pop in at a random location inside it, but now, the more accustomed I get to it, the more control I have over where I am when I enter it. If that dagger still exists, I'll find it." Iris said.</p><p>"Maybe I can save you a trip." Cisco said.</p><p>"Think you can vibe it?" Iris asked.</p><p>"Not sure. But I figure it's worth a shot. Since you're basically our portal to the mirrorverse, I'll try using you as sort of an anchor point." Cisco said and Iris nodded as she held out her hand to Cisco, who took it and proceeded to vibe, only to let go about a minute later, panting hard.</p><p>"That was difficult, but I did manage to confirm that the dagger does still exist in the mirrorverse. However, I had to let go before I could see where." Cisco said.</p><p>"Yeah, I didn't realize that vibing the mirrorverse would be so intense for you." Iris said.</p><p>"It's fine. But now that we know that the dagger still exists, think you can find it?" Cisco asked.</p><p>"I can try. I'll be back in time for dinner." Iris said as she then proceeded to jump into a monitor and into the mirrorverse.</p>
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<a name="section0043"><h2>43. Chapter 43</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Hello Mr. Dibny." DeVoe said as he approached the Elongated Man in his cell.</p><p>"Mind if I ask you a question?" Ralph asked.</p><p>"By all means, though I think I know what it is." DeVoe said.</p><p>"Why haven't you possessed my body, since you made it clear that you're the same thinker who killed me once before." Ralph asked.</p><p>"A fair question. I've learned from my mistakes. Taking over your body proved to be a crucial error, since it was that action that led to my downfall. However, your powers are still useful to me, though I've found a much more productive method of acquiring them." DeVoe said.</p><p>"What, with Melting point?" Ralph asked, confused, since he still had his powers.</p><p>"I considered it, but no. First off, you are the only one of the bus metas who's already acquired their powers and even if you hadn't, Mr. Kim's powers are too unpredictable, since he could end up switching our powers. An outcome that is not desirable to me. No, I have found a more effective solution. Though it does require me to keep you alive, for now anyways." DeVoe said.</p><p>"And what do you need me for?" Ralph asked.</p><p>"You'll know soon enough. But you also have other uses, since right now, I can use you to keep the Flash and his compatriots at bay, since they won't risk anything happening to you." DeVoe said.</p><p>"You know they're going to find a way to get to me right?" Ralph asked.</p><p>"Of course they will, but by the time their feeble minds manage to find a way to do it, it will be too late." DeVoe said and Ralph pounded on the forcefield keeping him locked in his cell.</p><p>"Don't bother trying to stretch yourself. This energy field is designed to not only keep you contained, but also dampen your powers. An oversight I made while attempting to confine Barry Allen here." DeVoe said.</p><p>"Except we both know that you wanted him to escape. Had you really wanted to keep him prisoner, you'd have kept him in something similar to this." Ralph said.</p><p>"You're smarter than most people give you credit for." DeVoe said.</p><p>"I didn't think the almighty Thinker complimented other people, especially on their intelligence." Ralph said.</p><p>"Oh, your intellect is still nothing compared to mine, but you're still a bit smarter than I thought you were, since I always took you for the dumbest member of Team Flash." DeVoe said and Ralph glared at him.</p><p>"If you're so smart, then you should know that whatever you're planning, Barry will stop you. Again." Ralph said.</p><p>"No, not this time." DeVoe said confidently as he walked away from the prison center and towards the laboratory he'd set up, where he was working on the formulas for a meta boost serum that would allow him to take on other metahuman abilities without having to possess them. However, he was still working to find the component that would make the serum permanent and allow him to absorb as many powers as he wanted, since he now saw that would be a far more practical way to acquire the powers he needed for the Enlightenment than his old method, since this way, there was no chance of the Flash being able to defeat him the same way he had before.</p><p>He supposed that he'd have to reach out to one his many contacts to help locate the component, whatever it was. That was why he was now turning to the mirror he had in his lab. The same mirror he'd had relocated from McCulloch Technologies after the accelerator explosion.</p>
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<a name="section0044"><h2>44. Chapter 44</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Eva, I know you can hear me. We need to talk." DeVoe said to the mirror, which rippled for a second before Eva McCulloch appeared.</p><p>"It's about time. I was beginning to think that you'd forgotten about our deal, since I'm still trapped in here." Eva said.</p><p>"I did not forget, but I've had to be careful, since I needed to stay under the Flash's radar until everything was ready, but now I can begin to accelerate my plans, including my plan to ensure your liberation. As agreed." DeVoe said.</p><p>"Good. Now, why did you need to speak with me?" Eva asked.</p><p>"Despite my immense knowledge, I have yet to find the component necessary to make the metaboost serum's effects permanent." DeVoe said.</p><p>"I'm assuming you've also taken the fact that you'll also need to modify it to allow you to boost yourself with as many powers as you want?" Eva asked.</p><p>"Of course. Right now I can only use one power for a period of a few weeks. Thankfully, I have the donor for the particular meta power I need right now on hand so I have plenty of his blood to make more. But it's not enough. I cannot fully focus on our plans until my body is strong enough to support my mind." DeVoe said, since the only reason he was not dependent on his hoverchair was because he was using Ralph's blood to produce his current version of the metaboost serum to give himself Ralph's elasticity powers, which is what allowed him to be able to walk.</p><p>"I agree, you can't help me if you're dead. But tell me again how you got my company's thinking cap?" Eva asked, since in this reality, McCulloch technologies were the ones who developed the thinking cap.</p><p>"Your counterpart and I were old friends from school. She built the cap for me as a favor, on the condition that she could observe its effects. But of course, that didn't go as planned, since she merged with you when she was thrown into the mirrorverse." DeVoe said, since he was talking to the earth one Eva McCulloch, not the Earth Prime one.</p><p>"Okay then. I'm just glad that the cap restored your memories, since if anyone can figure out a way to get me out of here, it's you." Eva said.</p><p>"Yes, and speaking of which, I know the first step in the plan to get you out." DeVoe said.</p><p>"Tell me." Eva said.</p><p>"There is someone who is able to travel between this world and the mirrorverse at will. Her name is Iris West." DeVoe said.</p><p>"And you want me to capture her?" Eva asked.</p><p>"No, not yet. That would draw too much suspicion from the Flash, since she's his fiance. Stay out of sight from her, but keep tabs on her. See if you can get a sample of her DNA, even a loose hair, that I can analyze, since I believe that her DNA holds the key to your liberation." DeVoe said and Eva nodded.</p><p>"I'll see if I can find her." Eva said.</p><p>"Also see if you can help me stabilize this formula." DeVoe said and Eva nodded as the mirror rippled again and she disappeared.</p><p>Iris returned from the Mirrorverse about two hours after she left and she did not return empty handed.</p><p>"You found it." Barry said as he carefully took the dagger from his fiance.</p><p>"Yeah, turns out it was in the mirrorverse version of CCPD. I guess that every item that's sent there from this reality or the old one ends up in it's mirrorverse equivalent location, since I found the old satellite core at Star labs." Iris said.</p><p>"Okay, now that we have the dagger, we can start trying to find a way to replicate its effects before I ask Kara to see if she can send it into the sun where there's no way it can hurt anyone ever again." Barry said as Cisco took the dagger.</p><p>"Last time I held this thing, it embedded shards of itself in my hands, which actually turned out to be a good thing, since it led to us being able to create the metahuman cure. But I'm not planning on taking said cure this time around." Cisco said.</p><p>"Good, because we need Vibe and honestly Cisco, I think you need him too." Barry said.</p><p>"You're not wrong. After I took the cure, I felt like there was something missing from my life, no matter how much I told myself there wasn't. But what was missing was being Vibe. I have enjoyed it again. I can't believe I ever wanted to give it up." Cisco said.</p><p>"Well, right now, we need Cisco Ramon, not Vibe." Iris said.</p><p>"I know. I'll head to the lab, see if Nash or Jesse can help me replicate the dagger's effects." Cisco said as he headed out of the cortex.</p>
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<a name="section0045"><h2>45. Chapter 45</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>No matter how hard DeVoe tried, he just could not figure out what it was he was missing from the formula to make its effects permanent. He'd run countless simulations, but every one of them came back with a different error.</p><p>"Having trouble Clifford?" Eva asked.</p><p>"What do you want Eva?" DeVoe asked.</p><p>"I want to be able to help you, but we both know that I can't truly do that unless you get me out of here. So maybe instead of trying to multitask, you should direct that dark matter infused brain of yours to trying to find a way to get me out of here. Once you do that, then you can divert all of your attention to solving your problem and I can truly help you." Eva said.</p><p>"On that front, I have made progress, though it will require a few things on your end." DeVoe said.</p><p>"What do you need?" Eva asked.</p><p>"You built your ARCEM machine correct?" DeVoe asked.</p><p>"I did, but it's useless." Eva asked.</p><p>"Only because you didn't have the correct components to build it. I've determined that in order for the ARCEM to work properly, it requires the prismatic refractor of this universe. A version of it made in the mirrorverse will not be compatible." DeVoe said.</p><p>"Can you build one?" Eva asked.</p><p>"Of course, but that would take time, which is something that we are both running out of. Fortunately, didn't you already build one before you were trapped?" DeVoe asked.</p><p>"Of course. But I don't know where it is." Eva asked.</p><p>"Let me worry about that. Once I acquire the refractor, I will give it to you, since we've determined that you can safely bring items into the mirrorverse, but you cannot get out." DeVoe said.</p><p>"True. What else do we need?" Eva asked.</p><p>"There is only one component left that is really necessary and unfortunately, it will not be easy to acquire." DeVoe said.</p><p>"Why not?" Eva demanded.</p><p>"Because it does not exist yet and if I know Team Flash, they're doing everything they can to ensure that it never will." DeVoe said.</p><p>"I still don't follow." Eva said.</p><p>"I need a component capable of neutralizing the harmful effects that crossing over from the mirrorverse causes you." DeVoe said.</p><p>"Just capture Iris West and determine how she is able to do it." Eva said.</p><p>"Not a smart idea considering that she is always surrounded by superheroes and is more likely to blast first and trap me there with you. But there is another component that could work. The blood of another one of the Flash's enemies. Except unlike the rest of them, this one has yet to be born." DeVoe said.</p><p>"Who?" Eva asked.</p><p>"Dr. Ramsey Rosso. Or as I believe he will prefer to be called, Bloodwork." DeVoe said, unaware that Ralph had heard everything they'd said.</p><p>"Barry, can I talk to you for a second?" Caitlin asked.</p><p>"Sure, what's going on?" Barry asked as Caitlin pulled him aside.</p><p>"I got a call from Ramsey today." Caitlin said.</p><p>"Bloodwork." Barry said.</p><p>"Yeah, I'm not sure he's become Bloodwork yet, but I really hope not, since we're still dealing with DeVoe right now. That's why I'd like your permission to offer Ramsey a job here so we can keep an eye on him. I'll see if I can help him create a cure to HLH, but one that doesn't involve dark matter." Caitlin said.</p><p>"Do it. But make it clear to Ramsey that dark matter is a resource that only the people with the highest level of security have access to and while you are one of them, I know you'd never let him have access to it." Barry said.</p><p>"Thank you." Caitlin said with a grin, since Ramsey was an old friend of hers and she really did not want to have to lock him up again.</p><p>"What exactly are you working on?" Allegra asked Cisco as she entered his lab at the Nexus.</p><p>"Well, Caitlin's got a plan that will hopefully prevent Ramsey from ever becoming Bloodwork, but in the event that fails and he does become him, I am working on the RAM so that we have something that's actually capable of holding him if he should break bad again." Cisco said.</p><p>"Alone?" Allegra asked.</p><p>"No, not alone." Chester Runk said as he popped out from where he was working.</p><p>"Allegra, I'm not sure if you were ever formally introduced to Chester in the old reality, but he is actually the newest, part time member of Team Flash." Cisco said.</p><p>"And how exactly does he qualify?" Allegra asked.</p><p>"He managed to create a device that opened a black hole out of stuff he found at a junkyard." Cisco said.</p><p>"Yes and I am very excited to get to work for the Flash both officially and unofficially." Chester said excitedly.</p><p>"Wait, he knows?" Allegra asked.</p><p>"Yeah, your dad told him and your mom then threatened to trap him in the mirrorverse if he talked." Cisco said.</p><p>"Yeah, that's what I get threatened with instead of groundings. Well anyways, welcome to the team." Allegra said.</p><p>"Thank you." Chester said as he and Cisco got back to work.</p>
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<a name="section0046"><h2>46. Chapter 46</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Caitlin, I'm so glad you could make it." Ramsey Rosso said as Caitlin sat down across from him at a table at Jitters.</p><p>"I came as soon as you called and I've read your research and it's groundbreaking." Caitlin said.</p><p>"How groundbreaking?" Ramsey asked.</p><p>"Groundbreaking enough that I'd like you to come work at Star Labs for me so I can help you." Caitlin said.</p><p>"That's what I was hoping you'd say, since Star Labs has the one key component I need to begin running human trials on my cure." Ramsey said.</p><p>"And what might that be?" Caitlin asked, even though she already knew.</p><p>"Dark matter. That's the binding agent that allows my cure work." Ramsey said.</p><p>"Ramsey, while Star Labs does have reserves of dark matter on hand, only people with the highest level of security clearance are allowed to have access to it and given the fact that dark matter has the ability to turn people into metahumans, I doubt that it will be approved." Caitlin said.</p><p>"That didn't seem to matter when you built the particle accelerator and created a bunch of metas." Ramsey pointed out.</p><p>"Star Labs is under new ownership and we have finally managed to move past all the bad press that the explosion caused and your cure creating new metas would just end up bringing all that right back." Caitlin said.</p><p>"But it would be countered by it also having cured HLH." Ramsey tried to insist.</p><p>"I'm sorry Ramsey. My offer still stands and I'll help you find a work around for dark matter, but there's no way in hell I'm allowing you to use any of Star Labs dark matter to create this cure. Some things are not worth the risk." Caitlin said, making it clear that her mind was made up.</p><p>"Fine." Ramsey said, disappointed, but knowing that Star Labs had already risen to become one of the top research facilities in the world, so maybe he could find a work around for dark matter and maybe he could even find a way to steal some dark matter from Star labs to test his cure out on himself.</p><p>"And in case you're thinking of stealing any dark matter from Star Labs, you should know that it's kept in a secure offsite facility that we keep off the books, away from the general public. There is a small list of members of Star Labs who are allowed to know it's location and be able to access it, myself included. Anyone else who wants dark matter must submit a formal request to the big boss Barry Allen and go through a very rigorous screening process before he'll even consider approving the request and if it is, it will be delivered to you at your lab." Caitlin said.</p><p>"So, the only way I'm getting dark matter from Star Labs is if your boss approves it, which doesn't sound very likely." Ramsey said.</p><p>"And if we discover that you've obtained dark matter from any of our competitors such as Mercury Labs or Kord Industries, it will be considered grounds for termination." Caitlin said and Ramsey sighed.</p><p>"Fine. No dark matter. But if you're serious about helping me find another way to get my cure to work, then I'm in it, since hopefully, I can use this to save my mum." Ramsey said.</p><p>And also yourself . Frost said in Caitlin's head, but she didn't say it out loud.</p><p>"That would be great. Come by the main lab facility on Monday so that you can meet my boss and we'll get you set up officially." Caitlin said as she held out her hand to Ramsey, who shook it.</p><p>"I look forward to working with you." Ramsey said, though Caitlin could see past his charade and could tell that he was still trying to find a way to get ahold of dark matter to complete the cure that he already knew would work and it was clear that he was man who was so desperate to avoid death, he didn't care what sort of consequences there would be as long as he got the results he wanted.</p><p> </p><p>When Ramsey entered his apartment that night, he was surprised when he found someone else in there.</p><p>"Who are you?" Ramsey asked.</p><p>"Dr. Rosso, no need for alarm." the stranger said.</p><p>"Really? Says the man who broke into my apartment and waited for me to come home?" Ramsey asked as the stranger stood up and walked out of the shadows.</p><p>"My name is Clifford DeVoe and I am here because I would like to help with your research." DeVoe said.</p><p>"How can you possibly help with my research?" Ramsey asked, only to be stunned when DeVoe produced a single vial of dark matter.</p><p>"How did you get that?" Ramsey asked.</p><p>"I have my ways Dr. Rosso, but how I got this is not important. What is important is that I want to give it to you." DeVoe said.</p><p>"Whatever you want from me for it, I'll give it to you." Ramsey said.</p><p>"I don't want much, just two things from you. Two promises." DeVoe said.</p><p>"Of course, what is it?" Ramsey asked.</p><p>"The first is that you will test this cure on yourself, to ensure that it is safe for public use." DeVoe said.</p><p>"Of course." Ramsey said.</p><p>"Good." DeVoe said.</p><p>"And your other condition?" Ramsey asked.</p><p>"Someday I will come to you and ask for a favor. You will grant my request without hesitation, whatever it may be." DeVoe said.</p><p>"Yes of course." Ramsey said, not realizing what he was truly agreeing too and he didn't care. All he cared about now was getting what DeVoe had and he wanted.</p><p> </p><p>"Excellent. I look forward to seeing how this all plays out." DeVoe said as he handed the vial to Ramsey before making his way out, this time through the door before vanishing into his pocket dimension, a smile on his face, since the first step of his plan was in place, since he already knew how Rosso's cure would go and now Bloodwork owed him a favor which he would collect when the time was right</p>
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<a name="section0047"><h2>47. Chapter 47</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>On their way to their apartment with Allegra waiting on them, They came to a stop when some kind of vortex opened in front of Flash and Dash.</p><p>"What the hell?" Iris asked as they came to a stop.</p><p>"It's the speed force, it's drawing us in." Flash realized as he recognized the portal.</p><p>"Should we go?" Iris asked with uncertainty.</p><p>"We don't have a choice." Flash said as they ran into the portal.</p><p>"Hi mom, Hi dad." A familiar voice said to them to when they arrived in the speed force.</p><p>"Nora." Barry said as he and Iris turned to see their daughter Nora standing in front of them and they appeared to be in their old apartment from Earth One.</p><p>"Long time no see." Nora said.</p><p>"Why did you bring us here?" Iris asked.</p><p>"I brought you here to warn you, Clifford Devoe is planning something, something far more dangerous than the Enlightenment, He's already recruited Eva McCullough and Ramsey Russo." Nora explained</p><p>"Eva McCullough? Isn't she dead?." Barry asked</p><p>"When the Particle accelerator exploded, Ms. McCullough was thrown into the mirror in her office at McCullough Technologies."Nora said.</p><p>"She's in the mirrorverse?" Iris asked especially since she hasn't seen or heard about Eva in any of her trips to the Mirrorverse.</p><p>"Yes she is but unlike you, She can't pop in and out all the time.'</p><p>"What about Ramsey? How does he factor into Devoe's plan?" Barry asked.</p><p>"We don't know exactly What Devoe's plan is but The most likely factor is Devow is trying to bring Bloodwork into this New Earth." The Force explained 

</p><p>"Why are you telling us this." Iris asked 

</p><p>"The Flash is very important to us, Devoe almost destroyed him on The last Earth, we can not allow him to on this Earth. Goodluck to you both" The speed force said as it disappeared and Flash grabbed Iris then speeded out of the speed force.</p><p>When Barry and Iris came back, they saw that they were in their Apartment as Allegra came down the stairs.</p><p>"What happened? You guys looked like you saw a Ghost. " Allegra asked.</p><p>"Well, on our way here. we got summoned into the speed force." Iris said.</p><p>"I thought only Speedsters can enter the speed force"thier adopted daughter asked</p><p>"Apparently they wanted Iris there. "Barry said</p><p>"So, What happened?" Allegra asked</p><p>"They told us that Devoe was planning something that involves Russo and Eva McCullough who is alive apparently." Iris explained.</p><p>"We saw Nora. Our other daughter." Barry said</p><p> I wish I could've met her." Allegra said since the only other sister she ever had was Esperanza and everyone knew how that went.</p><p>"Yeah, I mean, I know that eventually she'll be here on this earth, and this time, since Thawne is truly gone for good, Barry will be there for her every step of the way, both of you, but it's still hard thinking about her." Iris said and .</p><p>"Anyways, we did get some good news." Barry</p><p>"Yeah. Now that we know that Eva is alive and evil, I can enter the Mirrorverse and stop her from whatever she's planning."Iris said.

"How are we even going to find out about Devoe's plan when we don't even know where he's located at?" Allegra asked</p><p>"Well, We know that Devoe is holding Ralph hostage so maybe if we can find a Way to track Ralph, we'll find Devoe." Iris suggested</p><p>"We'll go to the Nexus tomorrow and see if Cisco and Caitlin can help but for now, Let's enjoy a nice dinner." Barry said as the girls nodded.</p>
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